


veritasoobin

by cutaepatootae (elysian)



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Friends to Lovers, Huening Kai Is Bad At Feelings, Hurt/Comfort, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Magic, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Choi Soobin, Veela Huening Kai, Veritaserum, bts basically runs hogwarts, side!beomjun if you squint, sookai are bffs in love what's new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26341243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elysian/pseuds/cutaepatootae
Summary: On hindsight, leaving his drink unattended at the bar in The Three Broomsticks probably isn’t one of his most stellar ideas, especially when his first words to Soobin are: “Those jeans make your thighs look delicious.”(or: someone spikes kai‘s drink with veritaserum, soobin thinks kai's drunk a love potion by mistake, and kai thinks it’s probably best soobin doesn’t know that his random love confessions are, in actual fact, embarrassing declarations of truth)
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Huening Kai
Comments: 98
Kudos: 349





	1. madly in love

**Author's Note:**

> i swear i started this with every intention of writing a quick and dirty hogwarts sookai au but my fingers clearly got the better of me.......... what's new
> 
> there's quidditch & homecoming balls & crazy stalkers on the loose & overly complex backstories & bangtan running the school &... owls? also, veela! but more of that in chapter 2. for now, enjoy sookai gay panicking at every turn <3
> 
> yeonjun: gryffindor, 7th year  
> soobin: hufflepuff, 7th year  
> beomgyu: gryffindor, 6th year  
> taehyun: gryffindor, 6th year  
> kai: ravenclaw, 6th year

**Huening Kai**

On hindsight, leaving his drink unattended at the bar in The Three Broomsticks, Gangnam, probably isn’t one of his most stellar ideas, especially when his first words to Soobin when he _finally_ arrives, apologising for being late as usual, are: “Those jeans make your thighs look delicious.” 

Soobin blinks at him. Kai blinks at himself. He’s always had a tendency of blurting whatever’s on his mind around the people he’s comfortable with, but even this is a little much. Even for Soobin.

“Uh,” Kai says, into the stunned silence that ensues. “Please ignore that, I don’t know why I said that, and also you look really hot today — _fuck_.”

“Are you okay?” Soobin asks, worried, sliding into the barstool next to Kai and placing a hand on Kai’s forehead. “You feel a little hot. And you look a little... delirious.“

Delirious is right. Delirium is exactly what Kai is feeling, because it’s almost as if his subconscious has been given an unlimited express pass through his brain-to-mouth filter and straight through his lips, without any permission whatsoever.

Something’s wrong.

“You have really nice hands,” is what Kai blurts instead. He swallows, gives Soobin a panicked look that he’s sure Soobin’ll be able to read, even if his traitorous mouth refuses to listen to him. “I am not okay,” he finally manages to say.

“Are you drunk? Already?” Soobin asks, leaning in to scrutinise Kai’s face, eyes wide and concerned.

“Drunk in love,” Kai babbles, then: “You have beautiful eyes.” Fuck. What is _happening_?

“You’re being strangely nice to me today, Hueningie,” Soobin says, laughing a little. “What’s going on?”

“I’m _always_ nice to you,” Kai says, petulant, and then he starts thinking along the lines of how everyone should always be nice to Soobin all the time because he’s the best person on earth and deserves all the love in the world, and then he blurts, extremely horrifyingly: “Because I love you.”

Soobin pulls back, surprise flitting across his face. “You — what?”

“I’m very much in love with you,” Kai’s mouth says, even as Kai’s brain starts scrambling in his head, alarm bells blaring mentally: _ABORT ABORT ABORT_ , because while he might or might not have harboured one-sided feelings for Soobin for the past six years, he most certainly did not have plans to tell Soobin about it until at least, like, another six years down the road.

There’s no way he’s saying all this of his own accord. Kai casts his eyes around frantically, then glances down at his glass of firewhisky, which he’s been sipping slowly while waiting for Soobin to fly his ass over to The Three Broomsticks after getting released from Hufflepuff Prefect duties.

Realisation dawns. There’s only one substance in the world that can cause a person to spill their secrets like Kai.

 _Veritaserum_.

“Merlin,” Kai says, at the same time Soobin asks: “Kai, how much did you even have to drink?”

“I swear, only this,” Kai says, pushing the offending glass of firewhisky towards Soobin. “Hyung, I think someone spiked my drink.”

—

**Soobin**

It’s obviously a love potion of some sort, planted by some sicko who thought he or she could have their sick, perverted way with Kai. _Merlin_.

Soobin thanks his lucky stars he’d gotten to Kai before anyone else.

“Love at first sight?” Soobin guesses, picking up Kai’s firewhisky and inspecting it. “It’s probably not _Amortentia_ , because then you’d be running off with Merlin knows who.”

Some people, Soobin thinks with disgust, are revolting. Just because Kai’s come back from the summer holidays all tall now (puberty has done him wonders) and golden and bronzed from obviously spending too much time in the sun doesn’t mean he should be _drugged and taken advantage of_. Soobin bristles, surveying the other patrons of The Three Broomsticks suspiciously.

“Actually, I think it’s —“ Kai says, then cuts off, eyes going round. “Um.”

Soobin raises an eyebrow at him.

“I think anyone would probably fall in love with you at first sight, love potion or not!” Kai exclaims instead, tripping over his words.

Yeah. Definitely a love potion.

Kai gives him a look that says: _help_. There’s love in his eyes, but panic screams loud and clear underneath, and suddenly it feels too hot in The Three Broomsticks, too loud, too hard to breathe.

Something twists in Soobin’s chest.

“We should, we should probably get you to the Hospital Wing,” Soobin says, standing up abruptly. “Doctor Kim will know what to do.”

“Yeah,” Kai says, eyes going round again, “yeah, we should.”

—

**Huening Kai**

This is a disaster.

There are approximately two ways he can get out of this unscathed.

One, he somehow manages to lose Soobin on the way back to Hogwarts so he can see Doctor Kim alone without Soobin ever having to find out that it’s _Veritaserum_ he took, not a love potion. Merlin forbid Soobin ever find out that he’s been spouting embarrassing declarations of truth, not potion-induced declarations of blind infatuation like Soobin’s so convinced he’s been doing.

Or two, he makes a detour to TRICKS X TREATS, purchases a love potion and drinks it so he’ll actually test positive for a love potion and Soobin will be none the wiser. But Kai will also be nowhere closer to being cured of _Veritaserum_ , which really is the crux of the matter, so.

Option one it is. There’s only... one huge, gigantic problem standing in the way between Kai and his plans.

Soobin.

Soobin, who’s being unnecessarily overprotective and unnecessarily awesome and unnecessarily heart-achingly painful to be around.

Soobin, who _accios_ his broomstick all the way from Hogwarts, casts an Invisibility Spell (a frustratingly difficult spell to master) on them both so they don’t spook any poor, unsuspecting muggles, and pulls Kai close to his chest as they kick off, hooking his chin over Kai’s shoulder so he can see what’s ahead. Soobin, who always lets Kai sit in front because he knows Kai hates sitting at the back of anyone’s broomstick, an unfortunate symptom of accidentally falling off the end of his sister’s broomstick when he was 10. Soobin, who also knows Kai dislikes being side-alonged in Apparition because it just feels _weird_ , even though Soobin’s already fully licensed and apparating would really have been a lot faster (and a lot less heart-wrenching, what with Soobin being so near yet still so completely unattainable).

Then Kai remembers that he’s supposed to be madly in love with Soobin, and it would probably be weird if he doesn’t act the part, so he happily leans back into Soobin’s chest and tucks his face into Soobin’s neck the way he’s always fantasised about doing whenever Soobin lets him sit shotgun. It‘s nice to have an excuse to indulge in a little fantasy. Even if Soobin stiffens and the broomstick jerks a little and Kai has to grab Soobin’s jean-clad thighs ( _delicious_ , his brain hisses, and Kai has to swallow the words before they spring out of his throat) to stabilise himself.

Anyway.

They fly over the grounds of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, South Korea, a huge, sprawling replica of its first campus in Scotland. Their campus in Korea is located improbably in one of the valleys of Bukhansan National Park, a thirty-minute broom ride from the heart of Seoul. The last of the summer’s sun rays peek out from behind the mountain tops, colouring the mountains and trees in dusky hues of rose-pink and gold.

When they land, Soobin’s hair is wind-tousled, and Soobin himself is breathtaking in the soft evening light. Kai catches himself staring. He’s about to look away, a long-trained reaction from years of yearning, when he stops. Lets himself stare. Lets himself hungrily drink in the sight of Soobin running his fingers through his hair, black shirt riding up to reveal a small golden glimpse of his abs. Tells himself he finally has an excuse to be shameless, and he’ll milk every moment of this crazy situation while he can.

As long as Soobin doesn’t ask any difficult questions.

Like: “Why’re you looking at me like that?” and laughing.

And then: “Oh, right, you’re in love with me.”

Cue awkward feet-shuffling.

Kai’s heart leaps excitedly into his throat, so much so that he’s compelled to say, honesty leaking into every word: “Yeah, I really do love you. A lot.”

Now would be a good time to find a way to get Soobin distracted. Now would also be a really good time to throw himself into the Giant Lake and let the Giant Octopus sucker him from this plane of existence, because Soobin’s face goes all constipated-looking and their best friendship is officially _ruined_.

“I would also really love to see Doctor Kim alone,” Kai says quickly, striding quickly towards school. “Uh. Thanks for tonight? I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Wait, wait,” Soobin says, loping up to him easily with his ridiculously long legs, “I’ll bring you!”

“Please don’t,” Kai says, trying not to sound too panicked.

“You‘re not safe!” Soobin insists. “Whoever spiked your drink could still be somewhere out there, lurking behind a tree just waiting to jump you!”

Kai stares at Soobin. “I’m pretty sure whoever it was can’t get past the school wards.”

“Unless they’re also a _student_ ,” Soobin says.

“It was probably just some rando,” Kai says. 

“You can never be too careful,” Soobin says, and takes Kai’s hand in his — a little over-protectively, in Kai’s opinion.

“Aw,” Kai says, and then the horrible, truth-telling urge is back. “I love it when you protect me.”

Merlin.

Anyway, shaking Soobin off turns out to be remarkably difficult. Kai’s halfway to the Hospital Wing and also halfway from expiring with worry when, finally, rescue comes in the form of a frantic Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, who, clearly, is in dire need of academic help, if the way he throws himself dramatically at Soobin is of any indication.

“Where have you _been_ ,” Yeonjun wails. “This Muggle Studies essay won’t write itself and I sure as hell can’t write it by myself!”

“Yes, you can,” Soobin says, encouragingly.

“I have Quidditch trainings to plan,” Yeonjun says, making begging eyes. “I don’t have time to write about the history of muggle North Korea!”

Good. This is good. Yeonjun is a master at the art of distraction. Kai slowly extricates his hand from Soobin’s and backs away.

“Are you asking _me_ to help you write the essay?” Soobin asks, sounding affronted.

“You’re the muggle expert. Isn’t that how our friendship works?” Yeonjun asks, batting his eyelashes, and Kai hightails it down the corridor before Soobin can notice he’s gone.

—

**Soobin, the next morning**

For someone who’s been struck by a love potion, Kai isn’t acting at all like how one would expect a love-potion-afflicted person to act, though Soobin is by no means experienced in that regard.

Sure, Kai does have his lovey-dovey moments. Like the entire broom ride of torture from Seoul back to Hogwarts the day before (there’s only so much Soobin can handle, and Kai tucking his face into his neck stretches the limits of his tolerance), and his random love confessions, and his occasional bedroom eyes.

But if Kai’s been magicked into falling in love with him, why’d he run away from Soobin last night?

“He was probably just embarrassed,” Taehyun reasons, flicking a glance at Kai on the other side of the Great Hall, who’s sleepily filling his bowl of milk with cereal — in the wrong order, as usual, so the milk splatters everywhere when he pours the cereal in. Soobin shakes his head. Some things Kai just never learns.

“Yeah, the love potion doesn’t seem to be very strong,” Soobin comments. “Maybe it’s wearing off.”

“Probably,” Taehyun says. “Better make full use of it while you can.”

Soobin throws a piece of bacon at Taehyun. “What are you implying!”

“I didn’t imply anything,” Taehyun says, casually picking Soobin’s bacon up from where it had fallen on the table and eating it. “But it’s not everyday the love of your life returns your feelings, so. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

“Enjoy what?” Kai asks, plonking himself down in the chair next to Soobin’s and shamelessly helping himself to a piece of bacon from Soobin’s plate.

“This lovely breakfast spread!” Soobin says quickly, shooting Taehyun a warning glance, and then whacking Kai’s wandering hand. “If you want bacon, get it yourself.”

Kai pouts. “It tastes nicer when it’s yours.”

“Guess you better enjoy this while it lasts too, then,” Soobin says, stuffing his mouth with more bacon before Kai can steal them all.

Kai’s pout intensifies. “Don’t graduate,” he says, a little whine in his voice.

“So you want me to fail my N.E.W.T.s?” Soobin asks, amused.

“I didn’t mean that,” Kai says, and he’s really whining now. It’s adorable.

“So what did you mean?” Soobin teases, reaching out to rub Kai’s tummy, and then Kai is laughing and shoving at Soobin’s hands, and then Soobin remembers — this isn’t really Kai. This is love potion-addled Kai, who might _seem_ normal but who knows what’s really going on in his head?

“I — I mean,” Kai says, eyes shining, “who’s gonna be there to cheer for me embarrassingly when I become Head Boy next year?”

The problem with love potion-addled Kai and real Kai is that, sometimes, Soobin can’t tell the difference.

“What am I, chopped liver?” Taehyun asks from across the table, steadily making his way through a pancake. “We’ll cheer for you embarrassingly, me and Beomgyu.”

Kai turns to look at Taehyun, as though only just noticing his presence. “Oh,” he says, “thank you?”

“What did Doctor Kim say?” Soobin asks, because now he’s thinking about the love potion and it is imperative for him to know when Kai can be cured. “Did he give you an antidote?”

Kai turns a sheepish smile at him. “No,” he says. “You know how, in movies, the aurors usually bags evidence for investigations? We should have done that with my drink. But we forgot, so... Doctor Kim’s still trying to figure out what the — the substance is that I took. He took my blood instead, says he’s gonna run some tests.”

“Oh,” Soobin says in dismay. “We should have bagged the drink!”

“Aren’t Ravenclaws supposed to be good at stuff like this?” Taehyun teases Kai. “Like figuring stuff out and remembering important details like collecting evidence?”

“Well,” Kai starts.

“Don’t be mean,” Soobin chastises. “There was a lot going on!”

“What’s going on?” Beomgyu asks, sliding into the seat next to Taehyun, his pancakes stacked neatly on his plate.

“Kai’s madly in love with Soobin,” Taehyun says helpfully. “Someone spiked his drink with a love potion last night, and somehow Soobin ended up the unfortunate victim of Kai’s undying love.”

“Hey!” Kai says indignantly.

“He already loved me to begin with,” Soobin points out.

Kai swipes the last piece of bacon from Soobin’s plate. “Yeah, I really did.”

“To be honest, there isn’t really much of a difference,” Taehyun whispers loudly. Then he checks his watch. “Breakfast ends in five, anyway, where have you been?”

“Bathroom,” Beomgyu says, vaguely waving a hand in the air.

Yeonjun chooses this moment to materialise. Quite literally. He pops into existence next to Beomgyu, who goes “agh!” in surprise and sends a pancake flying.

“I have nearly perfected the Invisibility Spell,” Yeonjun declares. “Take that, Soobinie! I won’t let you beat me!“

Soobin rolls his eyes. Yeonjun’s competitive spirit knows no bounds.

Taehyun checks his watch again. “Breakfast ends in four minutes, where have _you_ been?”

Yeonjun waves a familiarly vague hand in the air. “Around.”

“Hmm,” Taehyun says, and pops a suspicious forkful of pancake into his mouth.

—

**Huening Kai, at the Quidditch pitch**

Quidditch trials is coming up in two days, and the first match of the year’s got Ravenclaw up against Gryffindor. Assuming he makes it back into the team (which he plans to) that means it’s him versus Taehyun, Beomgyu and Yeonjun — the triple Gryffindor threats — and that means _war_.

Kai’s always been a Seeker. He used to be small in stature, which made him light on his broom and quick in his reflexes, until puberty hit. He’s all long and gangly now, which is... most unfortunate.

He might hold the award of the year for Hogwart’s Most Gigantic Seeker, but he’d rather roll over dead than let his annoyingly long limbs get in the way. He’s still fast. All those years of trained Wronski Feints and Snitch chases have been ingrained into his very bones, so he’ll do whatever it takes to reprise his role as Seeker.

Even if it means flying his drills over and over and over again until he perfects every dive, every corkscrew, every roll. Until his eyes are dry from the wind, and his thighs scream at him, and his hands hurt from gripping his Firebolt. Until Soobin closes his book and hollers from the Quidditch stands: “Dinner time! I’m hungry!”

Kai swoops down, hovers at Soobin’s eye level.

“Ten minutes?” he tries hopefully.

“Dinner ends in 20 minutes,” Soobin says, pulling Kai in by the ankles so he’s hovering right in front of his face. “You know I need at least 15 minutes to get enough food in my system.”

It’s true. Soobin has an appetite that, really, would be more appropriate for Hungarian Horntails. Or Erumpents.

“Okay, come on,” Kai says, giving up easily and letting Soobin climb on. Then they’re off, flying over the Quidditch pitch back towards school.

“I think you have an admirer, by the way,” Soobin shouts into his ear, once they’re far away enough from the pitch. “Did you see that girl?”

“What girl?” Kai yells back.

“There was a girl sitting at the bottom of the stands, the girl with short hair? She kept staring at you!”

“Are you referring to yourself?” Kai asks, laughing, swooping down and landing them precisely on the top step leading to the front entrance of Hogwarts.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not a girl,” Soobin points out, clambering off.

It comes out before Kai can stop it, the now familiar urge of honesty pushing forcefully through his lips. “But you admire me too, right?” 

This _Veritaserum_ business is getting real tiring, real fast.

Soobin’s making that Constipated Face again. An _Avada Kedavra_ right now would be nice, Kai thinks wistfully, and he’s so busy freaking out in his head that he nearly misses Soobin saying, quietly:

“You know I do.”

—

**Soobin, later on that night**

So they kind of have this habit. It’s a little embarrassing, and Soobin would never, ever in a million years, even at wand-point, admit to it. But they kind of have a habit, cultivated since they were First Years, of sneaking up to the Owlery at night and cooing at the owls.

Okay, fine. It’s really embarrassing.

“I’ve missed you, and you, and you,” Kai’s saying off to the side, talking in baby. Soobin’s pretty sure owls can comprehend normal human speech just fine, so he doesn’t understand Kai‘s inexplicable need to speak to them like he’s talking to babies, but Kai will be Kai.

It’s maybe a little cute.

“Hey, Sean,” Soobin murmurs, when his brown barn owl flies over, landing on his shoulder. “All rested?”

Sean, like him, gets really exhausted from things like long train rides — even though most of the journey on the Hogwarts Express was spent sitting on their butts and not really doing much. It’s still _tiring._

Sean nibbles his ear affectionately, then flies over to greet Kai, who completely forgets about his adoring audience of owls to coddle Sean delightedly.

“I think your owl likes me more than he likes you,” Kai says, darting a mischievous glance at Soobin.

“Blasphemy,” Soobin says, walking over to pet Sean, who’s now made himself comfortable on Kai’s shoulder. “Where’s Tobin? I haven’t seen him since we arrived.”

“He’s pooped,” Kai says. “He hasn’t moved much from my bed, actually.“

“Is he okay?” Soobin asks. It’s been more than a day since they arrived in Hogwarts.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Kai says, uncertainly. “You know how bunnies are. They sleep a lot.”

A slight movement from the open window of the Owlery catches Soobin’s eye. It’s a sole rider far away on the Quidditch pitch, flying. It’s a clear night, so the moon’s shining aggressively bright. Whoever’s on the Quidditch pitch seems to be flying Seeker drills. Soobin recognises them from watching Kai fly all the time.

“Someone’s training hard for trials,” Soobin says, pointing. “What are you doing, huh, Hueningie? Feeding owls?”

“Hey!” Kai protests. “I was training hard, remember? Then _someone_ got hungry.”

“Oh, yeah,” Soobin says blithely. “Sorry. I missed Hogwarts food too much over the summer hols.”

“I missed you,” Kai says plainly, then freezes, a familiar, horrified look flitting across his face. Soobin’s starting to recognise the look — it tends to happen whenever the love potion kicks in. When Kai lets slip something affectionate. When Kai looks at him like he created the sun and the moon and the stars.

Soobin gets it, really. Beneath the glamour of love and the pull of the potion, Kai must be super embarrassed. Who wouldn’t be? There are a million and one reasons why Kai falling in love with Soobin would never work out in reality. Their friends might joke around, sure, about how Kai and Soobin are _soulmates_ and that you’ll never see one without the other, but Kai’s also straight. That’s the first problem. The second problem? Is that Kai’s never actually had serious feelings for anyone (not counting that short fling he’d had with that random Ravenclaw girl last year, which had turned out disastrously), so whatever feelings the potion’s making him feel must be really throwing him off-kilter.

 _Enjoy it while it lasts_ , Taehyun’s words swim into Soobin’s head.

Too bad Kai’s discomfort isn’t something Soobin can enjoy. But he _can_ try to make things a little less embarrassing.

Soobin half-turns, so he’s looking but not really full-on looking at Kai. He can see the silhouette of his shadow on Kai’s face, throwing half his features in darkness and revealing half his face in silvery moonlight. “I missed you too,” Soobin says, and swallows the way his heart stutters, swallows at the way Kai takes a hesitant step forward, then two, like he’s fighting an internal battle, swallows at the way Kai seemingly gives up against the pull of the potion and lets himself wrap his arms around Soobin’s waist from behind, melting into his shoulders, face pressed into the back of his neck.

This isn’t anything out of the ordinary, really. They hug all the time. Kai especially loves back-hugging Soobin, even when he’d been younger and smaller, so much so that his face would always end up smushed between Soobin’s shoulder blades. He’s way taller now, after his surprise growth spurt over the summer holidays. Tall enough to hook his chin over Soobin’s shoulder. It feels different. It feels different, knowing Kai might be struggling with foreign, unfamiliar, _forged_ feelings.

Tension thrills high between them, thickening the air with something Soobin can’t quite put a finger to.

But Soobin doesn’t pull away, just places his hands over Kai’s hands wrapped around his stomach, lacing their fingers together. 

“How was your summer?” he asks, grasping for something to say. Anything to break the tension.

“It was shit,” Kai mumbles. “You know that.”

They’ve been quilling back and forth over the past three months using the latest QuikQuills — kind of like the wizard’s version of a muggle instant messaging app, except there’s a lot more scribbling of QuikQuill messages on a SmartParchment instead of typing involved. It’s real fun for drawing ugly renditions of Kai’s face and sending it over whenever he’s bored. It’s also useful for chatting, especially when Kai gets sad or lonely. Going home over the summer holidays is never easy for Kai.

 _It doesn’t even really feel like going home,_ Kai had told him, once. _My home’s here in Hogwarts._

“Wish you could’ve come over to my place,” Soobin murmurs, wistfully. “We made gigantic muggle egg tarts. You should’ve seen them — they were, like, the size of my face. I even named one after you.”

“Bet mine tasted way better than the rest,” Kai says, sounding amused. “We made... a bunch of fancy flying pots. My sisters have been really into flying pottery lately, Merlin knows why. I don’t have one named after you, though, sorry. All my pots came out crippled and looking like trash.”

“Good,” Soobin says, laughing. “I wouldn’t want to have a crippled pot named after me, so thanks?”

“You’re welcome,” Kai says, lightly, and then they settle into a comfortable silence, watching the lone rider dip and twirl in the night sky.

“Why don’t you give the trials a shot?” Kai asks, after the rider performs a particularly dangerous corkscrew. “You’d probably be a great Keeper.”

“And go up against the likes of the great Gryffindor trio?” Soobin asks. “No, thanks.”

“You’re good at flying,” Kai says, his voice laced with a stubborn edge.

“Not as good as you,” Soobin coos, squeezing Kai’s hand.

“Hm,” Kai says, sounding disbelieving. The rider does another impressively dramatic corkscrew. “I hope that guy isn’t vying for Ravenclaw Seeker. He’s good.”

Soobin squints. “Or she.”

“Oh.” Soobin can feel Kai squinting, pressing closer against him. “Yeah. Possibly a she.”

“Don’t worry,” Soobin says, confident. “You’ll get it for sure.”

“I’m all tall and long now,” Kai says, a little whiny. “Look.” He removes a hand from Soobin’s stomach, stretches it out.

Sean flies over to sit on his outstretched hand, peering at Soobin curiously.

“Yeah, Sean understands,” Kai says, sighing. “You think my form might be affected?”

“Nah,” Soobin says. “Your drills looked great to me.”

“You’re biased,” Kai says, and Soobin can’t see him but he hears it. The smile in his words.

“I never lie,” Soobin declares, and Kai ducks his face into the back of Soobin’s neck, embarrassed, breath whispering softly against his skin.

“When will you be able to get your test results?” Soobin asks, suddenly feeling all tingly. 

“Tomorrow,” Kai mumbles. “Hopefully I’ll get the antidote too.”

“What’s it feel like?” Soobin asks. He means to make it teasing. Light-hearted. “To be in love with me?”

It comes out anything but.

“It feels like coming home,” Kai says, and — that’s not the answer Soobin was expecting. It comes out so convincingly. Too easily. It doesn’t sound like something someone who’s been involuntarily forced into infatuation would say. Where’s the _light of my life_ and _fire in my loins_ -type confessions? Not that he wants that from Kai. Or perhaps he does.

Still. It’s weird.

“I’m sorry,” Kai whispers, sounding a little frightened. He takes a step back.

Soobin turns, catches Kai’s wrist. Pulls him back in. Wraps his arms around him, Kai’s hair tickling his nose.

It’s the least he can do, to make the situation less difficult.

“Don’t be,” he says, and holds him close.

—

**Huening Kai, the next morning, in the Hospital Wing**

Soobin knows.

He’s, like, 86.98% sure Soobin knows.

Who says _it feels like coming home_ when asked about being forcefully infatuated? Fuck. Kai needs to be _Veritaserum_ -free, ASAP.

“Tell me you have an antidote,” he near-begs.

“Well,” Doctor Kim Seokjin says. He is very tall and very handsome and, as it turns out, very heartless. “I will, in two months. The brewing time, you see —“

“Two _months?_ ” Kai interrupts.

“... by which time, the _Veritaserum_ will have lost its effects on you, so. Don’t worry.“

“How much longer must I be subjected to this torture,” Kai wails.

“Another two to three days, tops,” Doctor Kim says, cheerfully. “Don’t look so panicked. It’s _Veritaserum_ , at least, not something like _U-No-Poo_.” Doctor Kim visibly shudders in a way that makes it clear that he’s obviously suffered from first-hand experience with _U-No-Poo_. “Just don’t do anything bad that you’ll need to lie about.”

The problem isn’t about doing something bad he’ll need to lie about.

It’s about accidentally blurting the cold, hard truth that he’s under the influence of _Veritaserum_ , not a love potion, and effectively, single-handedly, destroying his friendship with Soobin.

And there’s also that other thing about his heritage that no one can ever know about. Ever.

Two to three more days? There’s only one way to get safely out of this.

Kai needs to dial up the love potion act.

—

**Soobin, in confused bursts throughout the day** ****

Kai’s acting more addled than usual. The love potion must be getting stronger, not weaker; that’s really the only explanation for Kai’s sudden bouts of overwhelmingly intense affection throughout the day — like, for instance:

It’s lunch time at the Great Hall, and Soobin’s happily helping himself to a humongous scoop of seafood stew when he’s startled by Kai slipping an arm around his waist and nuzzling his neck.

What even.

Kai’s a naturally affectionate person, but even this is bordering on excessive.

“Um,” Soobin says, going stiff. “Hi?”

“Gimme some too, please,” Kai says, holding out his empty bowl.

Soobin glances back at the line of unamused students queueing behind him.

“You’re shameless,” he hisses, and hastily scoops a generous helping of seafood stew into Kai’s bowl as well. “There are, like, 10 other students in line! I’m a prefect! I shouldn’t be allowing this!”

“‘m’hungryyy,” Kai just whines, straightening, and then he’s making electrifying eye contact with Soobin that seems to imply he’s hungry for something else other than food, and wow, yeah, there are those bedroom eyes again, holy shit.

“Okay, just —“ Soobin walks forward quickly and speed-dumps the rest of the food into their bowls from the buffet spread before the line of students behind him can jinx him into oblivion. “Come on, you brat.”

“So mean,” Kai says, pouting ridiculously. “Is that really how you should be talking to the love of your life?”

“You —“ Soobin splutters, and then Yeonjun materialises out of nowhere again, right in their path. Soobin nearly drops his tray of food.

“Perfection,” Yeonjun crows, doing a little twirl. “Didn’t see that coming, eh? I am officially a _master_ at the Invisibility Spell. Call me the King of Invisibility!” He points at Kai. “Your Ravenclaw Chasers will never see me coming!”

“I don’t think you’re allowed to perform the Invisibility Spell during a game,” Kai says dubiously. “Isn’t that against the rules?”

Yeonjun makes a noise that seems to indicate his low opinion of rules and anything of the like. “Meant to be broken.”

They head over to their usual spot in the Great Hall, and Soobin’s about to dig delightedly into his meal when, all of a sudden, he’s dealt with a lap full of Kai. Which is fine, really. Over the years, Kai has developed a habit of curling up on his lap like a cat in the Gryffindor Common Room with the rest, particularly on really cold nights, but then again that had been in the Gryffindor common room on really cold nights. Not in the Great Hall, when Soobin’s trying to eat.

“Hueningie?” he says, peering up at Kai. “I can’t eat with you sitting on me like this.”

“Let me feed you,” Kai says, with deep affection.

“How does that even work,” Soobin starts, and he’s still trying to figure out the mechanics of it when Kai twists lithely in his lap and feeds him a huge spoonful of prawn.

“This is… disturbing,” Yeonjun remarks from across the table. “Sheesh, Kai, you’re a giant now. Soobinie looks like he’s drowning.”

That is a remarkably accurate turn of phrase, Soobin thinks, slightly hysterically. He _is_ drowning. Kai is _heavy_. He also smells… really good. Then again, he’s always smelled good. But must he really keep wriggling in his lap like that?

“What up, my dudes,” Beomgyu says, arriving at their table with a flourish and sitting next to Yeonjun. “Your face is hilarious,” he tells Soobin.

Soobin quickly clears his dazed expression and blinks up at Kai, who promptly feeds him another spoon of rice and stew.“That can’t be efficient,” Taehyun comments from behind, and Soobin jumps. “It’s gonna take you ten thousand years to finish your food.”

“Are you doubting my feeding skills!” Kai says indignantly.

“I’m just saying, there’s a perfectly good chair right here.” Taehyun gestures to the chair next to Soobin, blissfully empty.

“But I wanna be close to Soobinie-hyung,” Kai whines.

Soobin groans.

And, over dinner later that day:

“So, Homecoming Ball!” Headmaster Kim Namjoon says, apropos of nothing, standing up and clapping for attention. The deafening din of students eating in the Great Hall dies down into a confused murmur. “Sorry, I was supposed to announce this during our Welcome Dinner two days ago, but I forgot. Anyway! Homecoming Ball is coming up this Friday. That’s... in three days. Here, in the Great Hall. The theme is — uh, the theme is...”

The Potions Master, Professor Min Yoongi, leans up to whisper something into Headmaster Kim’s ear.

“... right! The theme is Midsummer’s Night. If you think that’s unimaginative, take it up with Professor Min, it’s his first time planning the Homecoming Ball — ow!”

Headmaster Kim gives Professor Min a glare, who in turn blinks innocently at him.

“We’re going stag, right,” Soobin whispers, leaning into Kai’s side.

“No,” Kai whispers back, turning to look at Soobin with wide, wide eyes. “Be my date?”

Soobin blanches.

“Uh,” Soobin says. “That’s the — the love potion talking, I assume.”

Kai blinks at him expectantly.

“O-okay,” Soobin says, weakly. “Sure. Let’s go together.”

He and Kai have always gone stag to all the Homecoming Balls, but they’ve also always done it together, so... there probably won’t be much of a difference this time, even if Kai, technically, just propositioned him. _It’s nothing!_ Soobin tries to tell himself, and he‘s almost managed to psyche himself back into normalcy when a pretty girl approaches their table.

Soobin’s quite sure he’s never seen her before, yet she looks... familiar.

“Hello,” she says, politely, a little accented. Soobin assumes she’s greeting all five of them, but she seems to have eyes only for Kai. “Huening Kai, right?” she asks, voice silky smooth.

Soobin immediately doesn’t trust her.

“Hi,” Kai says, pausing in the middle of spooning a huge helping of bibimbap into his mouth. He looks slightly ridiculous, with his mouth still half-open. “Yes. That’s me.”

“Can I... speak to you?” she asks.

“Uh,” Kai says, eyes going round. He places his spoon back down. “Sure.”

The girl beckons, turning slightly, so Kai pushes back from his seat and follows her away from their table.

“Who’s that?” Yeonjun hisses, once they’re out of hearing distance. “She’s gorgeous.”

“Think she’s new,” Beomgyu says. “Sixth-year Slytherin. Just transferred from Mahoutokoro.”

“Where?” Soobin says, distracted.

“Mahoutokoro School of Magic,” Taehyun supplies helpfully. “It’s in Japan.”

“Wow,” Yeonjun says, whistling. “What is she, like, half-Japanese?”

“Yeah; she speaks both languages,” Beomgyu says, sounding a little on-edge. “But she’s not _that_ pretty.”

Yeonjun blinks. “Sure,” he says.

 _Sure_ , Soobin thinks, staring surreptitiously at the girl and Kai. The girl’s talking animatedly now, smiling dazzlingly. Then she puts a hand on Kai’s arm.

Soobin bristles.

He knows why she looks familiar now. She’s the same girl he’d spotted at the Quidditch stands yesterday — the girl who couldn’t take her eyes off Kai.

“What’s her name?” Soobin asks.

“Aiko, I think,” Beomgyu says.

Kai laughs, his signature peal of laughter ringing loud and clear, then he shakes his head, says something with a smile, and makes his way back to their table.

Soobin quickly turns his eyes back to his food.

“So?” Yeonjun asks, eyes lit up teasingly. “Who was that?”

“Ah,” Kai says, looking abashed. “Her name’s Aiko. She just transferred. Slytherin, I think? Apparently we used to be childhood friends!”

“And?” Taehyun asks, a teasing lilt to his voice.

“And — and she asked me to go to the Homecoming Ball with her,” Kai says, sheepish. “But I told her no!” He turns loving eyes on Soobin. “I told her I already have a date."

Taehyun, Beomgyu and Yeonjun collectively turn to stare at Soobin.

“Uh,” Soobin says. “Yeah. About that.”

—

**Huening Kai, later that night in the Ravenclaw Tower**

**huening kai**

!!!!!!!

EMERGENCY

tobin won’t wake up!!!

**soobinie <3**

???

I’m on my way

Don’t worry!

**huening kai**

hurry

please

**soobinie <3**

Flying!!!

When Kai hears the _tap-tap_ on the window next to his bed, the last thing he expects is to see Soobin, hovering outside.

“ _Alohomora_ ,” Kai says, opening the window for Soobin. “Wow, you really were serious when you quilled _flying_.”

“It’s an emergency,” Soobin says, sliding in smoothly and whispering the spell to send his broom back to its resting place. “What happened?”

“Tobin,” Kai says, gesturing helplessly at his bed. “He isn’t waking up. He normally wakes up when I greet him, but today... look.” Kai runs a gentle hand down Tobin’s back, who doesn’t stir. “He’s still breathing but he isn’t waking, _Merlin_ , hyung, what do I do?”

“Deep breath,” Soobin tells Kai. “Sit down.” Kai obediently sits on his bed. “Let me run some checks.”

For the first time, Kai thanks his lucky stars that Soobin specialises in Care of Magical Creatures. He takes back all the times he used to tease Soobin about it. Soobin’s the best. Soobin would make an _amazing_ Carer. Soobin is amazing, full stop.

A few fretful minutes pass, Kai twisting his bedsheets round and around his fingers as Soobin bends over Tobin.

“Good news,” Soobin says. “He’s fine. He isn’t in any pain, and it isn’t a coma...”

“But?” Kai asks, already reeling.

“But I don’t know why he won’t wake up,” Soobin says, turning worried eyes to him. “I, I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Fuck. _Fuck_.

“Is there something we can do?” Kai asks, desperation building in the back of his throat, a thick, suffocating ball of worry. “Anything, _please_ , hyung, Tobin — I, I can’t —“

“Hey,” Soobin says, scooting over to sit next to Kai. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. Let’s bring him to Professor Park, yeah? He’ll know what to do.”

Five minutes later, Professor Park Jimin opens the door to his living quarters, looking confused.

“Hi, boys,” he says. “Office hours are over, but you probably already know that.”

“Sorry to disturb you,” Kai says — gasps, really. “There’s something wrong with my bunny, and we — we thought you might be able to help.”

“You came to the right person!” a familiar voice from inside Professor Park’s quarters calls. “Professor Park Jimin, Magical Healer of All Magical Creatures, Big or Small!”

Professor Park rolls his eyes. “Ignore him. Come in, let me take a look.” He opens his door, gestures for them to enter.

In his haze of worry, Kai only vaguely registers the warm, golden glow of the many floating lamps in the living room. There’s a plush, comfy, slightly ratty-looking couch that a certain Charms professor is spread out elegantly upon in the corner, and books lie scattered on almost every available surface.

“You can put your bunny here,” Professor Park says, moving a few books from his study table to the floor and wordlessly levitating a small mat over to the table top. “What happened?”

Kai explains Tobin’s lethargy as quickly he can, tries to cover every detail, no matter how minute. He’d arrived in Hogwarts on Sunday, went straight to the Ravenclaw Tower to unpack his things, took a nap with Tobin in bed, woke up and floo-ed to Seoul to run some errands, before finally heading to The Three Broomsticks to enjoy a proper reunion with Soobin (though that had been promptly cut short because of the Unfortunate _Veritaserum_ Situation). Tobin had barely moved from where he’d curled up to rest on his pillow when Kai returned at night, but Kai hadn’t been worried then, thought it was just a side-effect from floo-ing. Tobin had been a little more spritely the next morning, nuzzling Kai’s face as he woke up in bits and starts, but had opted to stay cozy in bed instead of following Kai around on his first day of school. It’s normal; Tobin’s a lazy bunny. Kai describes how Tobin’s lethargy deteriorated over the course of Monday, and now it’s Tuesday and Tobin isn’t even _responding_ anymore, so he’s really fucking worried because Tobin means the _world_ to him and — and —

At this point, Soobin wraps a calming arm around Kai’s shoulder, and Kai lets himself trail off, aware that’s he’s gone into a bit of a panicked ramble.

“I’m sorry,” Kai says, shakily. “I’m just really worried.”

“Hm,” Professor Park says, performing the same round of foundational inspections Soobin had performed earlier. “He’s stable, so he’ll be okay. Let me just run a few more checks.”

Then he closes his eyes and murmurs a few incantations, hovering his hands just above Tobin’s body. A dim, golden glow cascades from his fingers to wash Tobin’s body in light. Kai can’t help noticing, deliriously, that it matches the floating lamps in the room.

“This’ll take awhile,” Professor V pipes from the couch, where he now has his legs folded into a more appropriately upright, professor-like seating stance. Professor V has always been a little eccentric; a tad scattered, but extremely talented at Charms. “Tea, anyone?”

“Actually, could we have hot milk please?” Soobin asks, politely. Kai casts a grateful look at Soobin, who knows he can’t take caffeine too late at night.

“Yeah, coming right up,” Professor V says, and does a few complex wand movements, uttering the words quietly to send two mugs of steaming hot milk flying at the two of them. Anyone else, and the milk would probably have been sent flying _out_ of the mugs, but Professor V’s charms are quick and terrifyingly precise as always.

Kai takes a sip of the milk, places the mug back on its floating saucer and tries to calm down. He’s too wrung up to sit on the couch, so he settles for pacing back and forth across the rustic wood of Professor Park’s floor, eyes trained on Tobin.

Tobin had been gifted to him by his father on his thirteenth birthday — a few weeks before his father died in a freak accident while on business travel. _Lightning storm_ , they said. He’d been out flying, and likely didn’t know what hit him. It was a quick death. Painless. He remembers the night they received the news. A solemn-looking Auror had floo-ed in through their fireplace to pass them the message, his head popping up eerily in the midst of green flames.

The news had levelled his family and completely devastated his mother. Kai doesn’t remember much of his third year, doesn’t know how he survived. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if he loses Tobin too.

“He seems to be in a kind of trance,” Professor Park finally says, breaking Kai out of his reverie. “A drug-induced trance.”

“Drug?” Kai echoes.

“Have you been, uh,” Professor Park pauses awkwardly, looking like he’s weighing his next words carefully, “smoking any... substances?” 

“He means weed,” Professor V pipes up.

“ _What_?” Soobin says, sounding offended. “Of course not!”

“He’s a prefect, you can trust him,” Kai says, blankly.

“Right,” Professor Park says dubiously. “It could be that someone’s been feeding him or making him sniff some kind of substance then. He’s completely knocked out from it.”

“You — you think someone’s drugging Tobin on purpose?” Kai asks, floored. “ _Why_?”

“I can’t say for sure until we monitor him a little longer,” Professor Park says. “He‘ll be staying the night, if you don’t mind. And you — you should probably sleep somewhere else, for now. If someone’s trying to drug your bunny… you might not be safe either, Kai.”

Realisation dawns, and Kai takes a step back, thunderstruck. His spiked drink. The _Veritaserum_. Could they be linked?

Kai meets Soobin’s eyes, which have gone large and questioning. _Should we tell them?_ his eyeballs seem to ask.

Kai shakes his head minutely.

The less people he has to lie to, the better.


	2. the trouble with experimentation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After six years of friendship, Kai likes to think he’s an expert at deciphering Soobin’s expressions. After six years of friendship, Kai knows from historical evidence that Soobin doesn’t take chances — he takes calculated risks. After six years of friendship, Kai knows exactly how Soobin thinks.
> 
> Which is why the next thing Soobin says completely throws him off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> massive heaps of mutual pining ahead, you've been warned
> 
> also, the latest talk x today ep please :-((( sookai are such BOYFRIENDS!!!

**Soobin, later that night**

It feels like _déjà vu_ when Kai follows Soobin quietly into the Hufflepuff Basement.

In Kai’s third year, after his father’s death, Kai would follow Soobin back to the Hufflepuff dormitory, quiet and grieving, and fall into a restless sleep in Soobin’s bed. The Hufflepuffs never mocked or pitied Kai for it, which Soobin has always been grateful for. Sometimes Kai would have nightmares, and he’d wake up gasping into the darkness, clutching at Soobin’s hands like a lifeline. Other times he’d cry silently in his sleep, the wracking of his body and the tears dampening the surface of Soobin’s pillow the only giveaways of his despair. Moments like those, Soobin would wrap him up close, stroke comforting fingers through Kai’s hair, and let Kai cry into his chest.

Over the year, the nightmares gradually stopped coming and Kai started crying less, so Soobin never questioned it when Kai stopped following him to the Hufflepuff Basement, never asked Kai to do anything he didn’t want to do — even though his bed felt too large, too cold during those first few weeks without Kai, and he missed the way Kai felt in his arms. Kai deserved to recover at his own pace and in his own space, so Soobin clamped down hard on those feelings and never spoke of it.

Sometimes, he still dreams of Kai’s sleepy warmth and sticky cheeks and messy hair.

It’s relatively early in the night, so most of the Hufflepuffs are still in the common room, catching up from the summer holidays and cracking down on their first round of assignments. A bunch of Hufflepuffs greet Kai when he enters, warm _long-time-no-sees_ and teasing _finally-back?_ s, to which Kai laughs cutely in the awkward way he does when he‘s feeling squirmy. Soobin just grins broadly at his housemates and bundles Kai off into the dormitory.

“Still so messy, hyung,” Kai remarks, picking up a scarf, two shirts and three socks from Soobin’s bed.

“I have a system,” Soobin says defensively. He’s converted half of his four-poster bed into a makeshift dresser so he can grab his clothes easily without having to rummage through his trunk. “I don’t need that much space to sleep.”

“You do now,” Kai says, unceremoniously dumping Soobin’s clothes on the floor.

“Hey!” Soobin squawks, but quietens when Kai clambers onto his bed, looking at him challengingly. Kai’s really, really tall now. He’s grown into his features and lost some of the baby fat in his cheeks; so spread out now across Soobin’s quilt, Kai looks like some kind of model meant for the magazine cover of Witch Weekly, not Soobin’s best friend and now temporary bedmate.

He likes the way his bed looks, with Kai on it.

Soobin forces himself to look away.

“Yeonjun’s inviting us over to the Gryffindor common room,” Soobin says, noticing the unread quills on the SmartParchment he’d left on his pillow.

“I’m a little tired,” Kai says, rolling over to stare up at the quilt hangings draped over the top of Soobin’s bed. “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure,” Soobin says, and sends off a quick quill to let Yeonjun know.

“C’mere, hyung,” Kai says, a little coyly, tugging Soobin into bed.

Soobin lets him, a little afraid of what other love potion-inflicted deeds Kai might attempt.

“Who do you think is drugging Tobin?” Soobin asks, settling close to Kai.

“I have no clue,” Kai says. He sounds worried, so Soobin lets him snuggle into his chest. Kai’s a cuddly sleeper. It’s something Soobin noticed three years ago, and it’s something Soobin can’t stop noticing now.

“You think it’s the same person who spiked your drink?” Soobin wonders. “It probably is, fuck. They’re probably still out there, just waiting to pounce!”

“Or perhaps someone‘s been sneaking back to the Ravenclaw dorm to smoke weed during school hours,” Kai suggests. “That sounds more likely. Why would someone —“ Kai falters, as though struggling with his words, then continues: “spike my drink, and then drug Tobin? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Love doesn’t make sense,” Soobin says, darkly. “Crazy love-struck stalkers, even less so.”

“You’re so paranoid,” Kai says, fondly.

“Maybe they were trying to drug _you_ ,” Soobin says, aghast at the thought. “ _Merlin_. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

“Even in the showers?” Kai teases.

“Especially in the showers,” Soobin confirms, seriously. “I’ll watch you bathe if I have to.”

There’s a pregnant silence, and then Kai says, his words coming out stilted, jumbled, like he can’t help it: “You can do more than watch, if you want to.”

Soobin swallows the violent tug in his stomach. Closes his eyes against the flashes of tan, golden skin that flit impermissibly through his mind.

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” he finally manages to say.

“I do, too well,” Kai says, an edge creeping into his voice.

“Did Doctor Kim say when you’ll be able to get an antidote?” Soobin asks, a little helplessly, desperate to change the topic.

“In two months,” Kai sighs. “But the _Veri_ — the effects should subside within the next two days.”

“Thank Merlin,” Soobin says. Two days. He only needs to resist Kai’s come-ons for two more days, and then they can return to normal. That’s not too hard. He can do that.

“I’m sorry,” Kai says, sounding troubled.

Immediately, Soobin feels like the lousiest person on earth.

“Please don’t be,” Soobin says. “None of this is your fault.”

“But it is,” Kai says softly.

“You know, for someone who’s supposed to be madly in love with me, you’re pretty rational most of the time,” Soobin points out comfortingly. “It’s not like you’re trying to jump me any chance you get, so. I’m not weirded out, if that’s what you’re worried about. Okay?”

“But I do,” Kai says, and then all of a sudden he’s pulling away and hiding his head under Soobin’s pillow.

Soobin blinks.

“Do... what?”

“Do’w’na’jump you,” Kai says, muffled from beneath the pillow.

“Why don’t you?” Soobin asks, curiosity getting the better of him. The love potion does seem a little... odd. It makes Kai loose in the lips, sure, but apart from Kai’s sporadic moments of intense affection, the potion doesn’t really seem to alter his physical inhibitions.

“It — It doesn’t affect me like that,” Kai gasps, sounding strained.

“How _does_ it affect you?”

“It —“ Everything after that becomes swiftly incomprehensible, because Kai plants his head beneath Soobin’s pillow in an attempt, no doubt, to suffocate himself to death.

“... right,” Soobin says, when Kai finally resurfaces. “Got it.”

“Stop asking questions,” Kai pleads. “Please.”

“Why?” Soobin asks, amused.

“I’m in love with you and it’s embarrassing!” Kai bursts, so loudly that Soobin’s glad everyone else is still outside in the Basement.

“I love you too,” Soobin teases. “I’m not embarrassed.”

“You know it’s different,” Kai mumbles.

“Is it?”

“Is-isn’t it?” Kai’s eyes go wide.

Soobin backtracks wildly.

In all honesty, jumping Kai isn’t a new thought. It’s been lurking in his brain for years, _what-if_ thoughts of kissing Kai in the Owlery, _what-if_ dreams of him and Kai pressed together in bed, _what-if_ fantasies of Kai’s penchant for holding his hand and sitting on his lap transforming into something more.

But Soobin’s always been good at looking twice before leaping.

So he says: “I guess it is,” and forces himself not to reach out and hold Kai to sleep that night.

—

**Huening Kai, at Quidditch trials**

Cloudy with a chance of failure is what the forecast looks like when Kai flies up to his position and waits for the whistle to blow.

There are three other contenders for the position of Ravenclaw Seeker, all younger, bright-eyed and certainly much smaller than him. Ugh, puberty. Kai catches a flash of yellow in the stands down below, lets himself grin at Soobin’s upturned face and the way he mouths _all the best_ , and so it’s while he’s returning the smile, likely with an embarrassingly dopey look on his face, that the whistle blows and the other contenders go off like a shot.

Whoops.

Thunder rolls, a distant roar, beyond the mountain tops, and Kai sees it — the quick flutter of golden wings, darting left to right, up and down, then circling around the contenders, as though it’s all a game.

It is, Kai reminds himself, still hovering, waiting. It is a game.

But it’s a game he can’t let himself lose. He was trained by his father from young; he can’t let his father down.

 _Snitches are unpredictable_. That was his father’s first lesson. _They don’t have a mind of their own or a logic to abide by. They only have one goal: to escape._

That means escaping from three different, promising Seekers on the other side of the pitch, all weaving valiantly around each other in their attempts to capture the Snitch. That also means doing a 180, almost predictably, and shooting over to his side of the pitch.

Kai does a side roll, feints left — the Snitch goes right, which Kai had been bargaining on, so Kai completes the roll and lets the push of momentum give him the extra boost he needs to hurtle back in the opposite direction, hand outstretched.

It’s an easy win.

Not two seconds later, it starts pouring, so by the time Kai makes it back to the stands, he’s drenched. The stands are magically sheltered, so Soobin’s still dry as day when Kai makes his way up to him, shaking water out of his hair.

“You could have at least looked like you _tried_ ,” is the first thing Soobin says, after he’s done laughing and trying to push Kai away from dripping all over him. Kai just scoots right into Soobin’s side, the warm flush of victory tinging his cheeks.

“Hey, I did try,” Kai protests. “Sorry there wasn’t an epic chase?”

“Yeah, most Seekers go chasing after the Snitch,” Soobin says drily. “I can only name one who waits for it.”

“What can I say,” Kai says happily, “Snitches like me.”

The Slytherin’s Seeker trials are up next. There are a whopping 10 contenders for the role, and word has it that _two_ Snitches will be released for capture. The rain only makes it that much more dramatic. It’s only trials, but with what looks like half of Hogwarts packed into the stands like a can of gillyweed, it’s almost as if this was their first game of the year.

“I hope Yeji gets it,” Kai comments. “It’s always fun flying against her.”

“She’s been Seeker for three years in a row,” Soobin remarks. “It’s time to give others a chance.”

“ _I’ve_ been Seeker three years in a row,” Kai points out.

Soobin slants a look at him. “You’re different,” he says, simply.

 _That doesn’t make any sense_ , Kai wants to say, but is rudely interrupted by the whistle and the stands erupting in a collective gasp.

Not one, nor two, but three Snitches flash through the sky.

“Fun,” Soobin comments wryly.

“It _is_ fun,” Kai says, a little breathless from the excitement of it all. “Stop spoiling the mood!”

“It’s just gonna take three times as long,” Soobin complains. “You took only, like, a minute.”

“You’re not right in the head,” Kai tells Soobin. A Snitch glints overhead, skimming dangerously close to the audience. Kai’s on the verge of shooting out of his seat to grab it himself — occupational hazard — when someone swoops in, nearly skins the hair off everyone’s heads, and deftly catches it.

“Well,” Soobin says, sounding a little bit surprised as the stands explode into cheers. “That... took less than a minute.”

“Who‘s _that_?” Kai breathes.

Soobin squints at the figure circling aloft, holding up the Snitch. “Isn’t that the new girl?”

Kai squints as well. “Who — oh. Aiko? _Wow_.”

Up above, Aiko pockets the Snitch, then hovers lazily, watching eagle-eyed as the other nine contenders zip around the pitch in pursuit of the two remaining Snitches. There’s a bone-rattlingly loud crack of thunder (Kai very nearly jumps out of his seat and goes to clutch Soobin’s thigh out of mindless furore — thunderstorms make him uneasy), and lightning illuminates the pitch in an eerie white wash of incandescence, lighting up the Snitches in bright gold just a beat later. A familiarly lithe figure falls from the sky, shooting straight to the ground in what looks like a sure death sentence — Kai holds his breath, and lets out a small sigh when Yeji pulls up just short of hitting the ground, waving the second Snitch victoriously.

Two down, one more to go.

Up above, Aiko’s still circling. The last Snitch seems to be proving particularly difficult to catch — it hurtles from one side of the pitch to the next, at speeds that would exhaust Kai himself, and sending the other contenders on a wild goose chase. Kai’s so absorbed in the trials, he doesn’t notice Soobin attempting to pry his fingers from his thigh until he gives up, taps his hand against Kai’s, and hisses: “I’m losing blood circulation to my toes.”

“Oh, sorry,” Kai says, distracted, and makes to move his hand away from Soobin’s thigh. He turns it around, palm up, and is about to slide it away when Soobin catches his hand and interlocks their fingers instead.

Well. Kai really is distracted now.

Yeji flies up to join Aiko in circling the pitch from above; they’re likely both waiting for the Snitch to fly up, so they can employ gravity assist on the way down. _Flying down is always faster than flying up._ That was his father’s second lesson. _Never underestimate the pull of gravity_.

Only the best Seekers wield gravity like an extension of themselves; most others treat gravity like something to be afraid of — which isn’t wrong.

Gravity is dangerous. It killed his father.

There’s another loud clap of thunder, and this time Kai’s prepared for the blinding flash of lightning that follows soon after. The Snitch chooses this moment to tear upwards, out of the lower playing field that the other contenders have congregated in, and then there’s a second burst of lightning, irradiating the pitch in the same eerie white, highlighting the silhouettes of Yeji and Aiko bolting downwards at the same time, on tangents bound for the same destination.

 _They’re going to collide_ , Kai realises with dread, his whole body tensing up in apprehension. At the speed they’re flying, the impact won’t be pleasant. Broken bones are almost a guarantee.

Everyone in the audience seems to come to the same realisation. The stands go uncannily silent, almost as if everyone’s bodily holding their breath in anticipation of impending doom.

Yeji, audacious, ambitious, yet sensible Yeji, pulls up short at the very last moment, expertly twisting away so she doesn’t hit Aiko.

Aiko catches the Snitch, and the crowd roars.

—

**Soobin, in the Hogwarts Lawn**

The Quidditch trials is the talk of the town, and the choice of selections even more so. No one’s surprised when the golden Gryffindor trio — Yeonjun, Beomgyu and Taehyun — are re-selected for their previous roles of Beater, Chaser and Seeker respectively, or when Kai’s announced as Ravenclaw Seeker once again. What _does_ take the entire school by storm, however, is Coach Jung Hoseok’s decision to reinstate Yeji as Slytherin Seeker, even though she’d lost the last Snitch.

 _The Slytherins are many things_ , Coach Jung had said, upon announcing the results. _Clever. Resourceful. Goal-oriented. They know how to get what they want. But beyond your houses, dear students, you as witches and wizards of Hogwarts should always share a few principles in common, one of which is prioritising the safety of others — and Yeji has displayed exactly that_.

Aiko doesn’t seem particularly disappointed, just shakes Yeji’s hand in good spirits and congratulates her.

The sun re-appears in the sky with a vengeance after the thunderstorm that morning, drying everything in sight. Predictably, almost the entire school flocks outside after school ends that day, so the Hogwarts Lawn is overflowing with students soaking in the sun — but Kai drags Soobin to Professor Park’s quarters to check in on Tobin first.

“Tobin’s fine,” Professor Park says, letting them in. “He’s awake now, but let me monitor him for another night just to confirm his condition — don’t look so sad.” Kai’s face had gone all crest-fallen-looking. “You can have him back tomorrow.”

Soobin’s of the opinion that a little bit of sun does wonders, so Soobin drags Kai out after that, despite Kai’s demands to lurk around Professor Park’s quarters to keep Tobin company.

Kai’s in markedly better spirits now.

“Should I go over and tell Aiko she did well?” Kai asks, off-hand, as Aiko, Yeji and a few other girls from Yeji’s group of friends set up cutesy picnic mats just a ways from them.

Yeonjun raises an eyebrow at him. “Whatever for?”

“We’re childhood friends!” Kai says, a little defensively. “We used to fly together when we were kids, before her family moved to Japan. It’s the nice thing to do, right? Since she lost...”

Beomgyu raises both eyebrows. “Suuuure,” he says.

“Sounds like Kai has a little crush,” Yeonjun sings.

“What —“ Kai splutters.

“I guess the love potion’s worn off then?” Taehyun asks, teasing.

Kai looks stumped. He opens, then closes his mouth. “I guess so,” he says, sounding surprised. “I don’t love Soobinie-hyung,” he says, like he’s testing it out. Ouch. “Wow. I’m free!”

Soobin‘s in the middle of swallowing his disappointment when Aiko pops up again. Merlin. Slytherins really _are_ goal-oriented.

“Hi,” Aiko says, looking a little shy. She tucks her hair behind her ear. Soobin doesn’t buy her act for one second. “Congratulations on getting in, you guys.” She makes eye contact with everyone but Soobin, which is just, you know, fantastic.

“You flew really well today!” Kai says, exuberant. “I’m impressed!”

“You too!” Aiko says, grinning. A gust of wind blows her short hair into appealing waves, and her skirt flutters appallingly, and Soobin swears he sees Kai’s eyes turn into literal heart shapes.

Great.

“We should — we should fly together sometime,” Kai suggests, hopeful. “Just like old times.”

 _Just like old times_. Soobin likes to think he was Kai’s first friend, first Quidditch partner, first _best_ friend. They’d met on the Hogwarts Express, back when Soobin was just one year into the world of magic, still feeling his way around and a little bit out of sorts, and Kai was painfully shy, jumping at even the littlest wand drops. They’d shared gimbap together on the way to Hogwarts, winding through precarious, improbably-built cliffside train tracks, cutting into mountains, and all the while Kai had refused to look him in the eye.

Soobin was tall for his age, and Kai too short. He’d been small. Adorable, like a baby, yet feisty and independent and a little closed-off. Befriending Kai had felt natural, but it hadn’t been easy. They’d eventually bonded over their love for flying, after Soobin had pestered Kai into taking many a midnight flight with him over the lake and forests surrounding Hogwarts. It never really occurred to Soobin that Kai could’ve had someone before him.

Behind Kai, Yeonjun raises both eyebrows suggestively.

“Let’s!” Aiko says happily. “Tomorrow, perhaps? After school?”

“Sure,” Kai says. “5pm at the stands?”

“Sure!” Aiko says, fucking _twinkling_ , and then she prances back to Yeji and friends.

Soobin shoots a betrayed glare at Yeji, who’s been watching the entire exchange with great amusement.

“Smooth,” Beomgyu says, clapping Kai on the back. “Well done, my man.”

Kai has the audacity to blush, and Soobin doesn’t say a word.

—

**Huening Kai, later that night**

For unfathomable reasons, Soobin‘s in a _terrible_ mood that night.

They’re in The Three Broomsticks again, attempting this time to celebrate with a proper nights out (“We’ll make sure no one spikes your drink,” Yeonjun says, wrapping a protective arm around Kai’s shoulders) — they’ve bought a bottomless jug of Free-Flow Firewhisky, the music’s loud but of acceptable taste, and the atmosphere in the bar is upbeat and only just slightly drunk. It’s a Wednesday night, so it isn’t even that crowded — Soobin mildly dislikes crowds — so Kai really hasn’t a clue why Soobin’s in such a bizarrely bad mood.

“Cheers to all of us!” Yeonjun says, holding up his glass. “Except you, Soobinie. You keep on being a good cheerleader, we love you.” Next to Kai, Soobin rolls his eyes. “We‘ve done it again! Here’s to our final year of Gryffindor wins!”

“I’m not cheering to _that_ ,” Kai protests, but is promptly drowned out by Taehyun and Beomgyu clinking their drinks obnoxiously and chiming in with Yeonjun.

“Here’s to only Ravenclaw wins,” Soobin whispers, leaning into Kai’s side, and Kai gratefully clinks his glass against Soobin’s.

That’s about the only interaction Soobin has with Kai that night. The rest of the night is spent playing drinking games, as they‘re always wont to do when Yeonjun’s around, and downing shot after shot of firewhisky. Soobin’s more quiet than usual. He plays the games like a good sport, but Kai can tell there’s something bothering Soobin. It shows through the storm in his eyes, in the careful way he angles himself away from Kai, in the way he refuses to meet Kai’s gaze, like he’s trying to hide something.

Whatever. He’ll figure it out later, when they‘re alone together in Soobin’s bed.

An hour and too many shots in, Kai’s feeling blissfully floaty, lightheaded like there are bubbles in his brain. When Soobin excuses himself for the washroom, Kai follows out of habit.

“‘re’you okay, hyung?” Kai asks, slurring slightly. Whoa. Standing up seems to have taken the last of his sobriety — everything’s _swimming_.

He stumbles, just a little, but Soobin’s already there to catch him.

“Are _you_ okay?” Soobin asks in return, dry as dust.

“Mm, I thought so,” Kai says. He leans into Soobin, lets Soobin more or less drag him into the washroom. “Guess not?”

Kai brightens when Soobin laughs at him.

Drunk peeing is... difficult, to say the least. It always is. But Kai manages it anyway, propping a hand up against the wall. He’s in the middle of washing his hands when the door opens and two guys stumble in.

Both guys are handsome — one’s taller than the other, but not by much. The taller one is dressed in a white button down and is _extremely_ attractive, though if Kai were to be asked why, he’d be hard pressed to pinpoint the exact reason. He just is. He makes Kai’s brain go blank, makes him want to slide up to him, press insistent fingers against his collar, line their bodies together. Symptoms all too familiar to Kai, though he isn’t usually on the receiving end. Cold, hard realisation chases the stupor from his brain.

The guy’s Veela.

Soobin’s gone similarly awestruck next to him, frozen in place, eyes glazed over. Kai curls a protective hand over Soobin’s, just in case, watching silently as both guys stumble into a cubicle. He breathes a sigh of relief only when the door locks.

Soobin snaps back to reality soon after. He shakes his head, looking confused, and then hisses: “Veela?”

“Yeah,” Kai says, and pulls Soobin out of the washroom.

“We should —“ Soobin says, abortively, looking back at the door. “What if it isn’t consensual?” His mouth twists into a slight curve of disgust.

Sentiment towards Veela exists on an almost polarised spectrum of extreme glorification to extreme prejudice. In other countries, especially in the West, Veela are romanticised and revered. Unfortunately for Kai, it’s the complete opposite in most of Asia, and especially so in South Korea. Veela — especially male Veela — in South Korea have a criminal reputation for using their biology to force others against their will. Almost half the count of rape cases in South Korea points at Veela perpetrators, sending most other normal Veela — full-blooded or mixed like Kai — into hiding.

Coming out as a Veela is, essentially, a life sentence. His father had hidden his identity all his life, and so has Kai. No one knows his true heritage except his immediate family, and he intends to keep it that way.

“We should report him. Tell the staff or something,” Soobin says, sounding resolute. “That’s just — _disgusting_.”

Kai panics.

“Both of them are Veela,” he lies, woozily. “It’s probably consensual.”

“I only felt it from the guy in white,” Soobin says, uncertain. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Kai says, trying to sound as convincing as he can while simultaneously battling inebriation. “I felt it from both of ‘em.”

Soobin looks at him curiously. “Aren’t you straight?”

Kai freezes.

Fuck.

He’s basically outed himself, hasn't he?

Veela’s powers of seduction work according to one’s sexual orientation. Male Veela are irresistible to straight women and... to anyone else already attracted to the male gender.

Soobin grabs his hand, pulls him aside and into a corner, so that they’re semi-hidden behind stacks and stacks of Butterbeer barrels. Kai casts a desperate look at their table, where Beomgyu’s waving his hands animatedly and likely giving an extremely dramatic rendition of the trials earlier today, and then Soobin’s holding him by the shoulders and looking at him intensely.

“Answer me,” Soobin says, hard. Kai’s breath catches. It isn’t a pleasant feeling. It feels like the oxygen’s been sucked out from his lungs and his heart might go into overdrive at any moment. It is a spectacularly uncomfortable feeling. “If you felt that, that means you’re...” Soobin trails off, looks at him with guarded eyes. There’s a bit of hurt there, a bit of a plea. _Tell me the truth_ , it says.

It’s a good thing Kai’s no longer under the influence of _Veritaserum_.

“Um,” Kai stutters, buying time to prepare the lie in his head. “I thought I was straight too?”

He’s always found both genders attractive, butno one needs to know that. Just as no one needs to know his true Veela identity, either.

“It — it’s probably the love potion,” Kai continues, words slipping over each other on his tongue. He throws in a slight whine, places a little turmoil in the pout of his lips. “I’m still a bit confused, I think?”

As anticipated, Soobin’s eyes soften, which means Kai’s in the green again.

“Yeah, that’s probably it,” Soobin says. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get all weird.”

Soobin, for the most part, is an easily predictable person. He’s not the best at talking about his feelings, but he wears his heart on his sleeve, and it’s always obvious when he’s happy or excited or stressed or sad. After six years of friendship, Kai likes to think he’s an expert at deciphering Soobin’s expressions. After six years of friendship, Kai knows from historical evidence that Soobin doesn’t take chances — he takes calculated risks, and that makes him predictable, as long as you know how to think like him.

After six years of friendship, Kai knows exactly how Soobin thinks. Which is why the next thing Soobin says completely throws him off.

“If you need to talk,” Soobin says, sounding just a little unsteady, “or if — if you ever want to experiment,” he takes a slow, deliberate step closer, so close Kai can feel his body heat, warming him from the outside in, “I’m here, okay?”

 _Experiment_.

It can’t possibly mean what Kai thinks it means.

Kai wonders, briefly, if this is real life, or if he’s really just knocked out from too much alcohol.

“O-okay,” he says, backing up against the nearest stack of barrels, heart leaping into his throat.

“Okay,” Soobin says, pressing closer still, and then someone behind him clears his throat and says, sounding extremely bored: “Excuse me, boys.”

Soobin leaps away so fast, he nearly knocks over a stack of barrels. “Sorry!” he says.

“Thanks. Coming through,” one of the waiters says, sidling past Soobin and Kai. Six barrels move away from the wall like a door, letting the waiter in, before closing again and resuming the perfect picture of an unassuming stack of barrels.

“ _Cool_ ,” Kai says.

Soobin’s bad mood mysteriously dissipates after that, and the rest of the night passes in a fuzzy blur of copious firewhisky, raucous laughter and, embarrassingly, far too many karaoke songs. It’s a relief when the two guys slink out of the washroom twenty minutes later, looking blissed out. The guy in white isn’t presenting as a Veela anymore, and the shorter guy doesn’t seem to have any issues with their washroom escapade, thank Merlin. Soobin mouths _phew_ at him, like it’s their little secret, and Kai finally lets himself relax back into his seat.

The Gryffindors keep them busy with games and conversation, but Kai‘s brain can’t stop returning to their little conversation behind the barrels.

 _Experiment_ , Soobin had said. _If you ever want to experiment_ , _I’m here._

Kai’s always known about Soobin‘s sexual orientation. Soobin had told him quietly, back in his third year, a few months after his father‘s death. Kai had been all messed up, had felt all fucked up for telling Soobin too much, for over-relying on Soobin to feel normal, for treating Soobin like a sponge to absorb his grief, his anger, his tears. Soobin knew too much about him, and Kai had been scared, so he’d asked Soobin to trade secrets as a promise of confidence.

 _I like boys_ , Soobin had whispered in the darkness of the Hufflepuff dormitory, beneath the golden yellow of his canopy. _Don’t tell anyone?_

 _Of course_ , Kai had said, and then: _thank you for telling me, hyung._

He doesn’t watch the way Soobin’s throat moves whenever he downs a shot. He doesn’t watch the way Soobin’s lips purse around the shot glass, the way his cheeks dimple when he smiles, the way Soobin’s eyes disappear when he laughs. He’s spent a large part of the past six years watching all of Soobin’s little quirks, but, for the most part, he tries not to.

Sometimes, he dreams.

But most of the time, he pushes it back, forces it into a box labelled _DO NOT OPEN_. It’s bad enough, falling in love with someone of the same gender in a country as unforgiving as South Korea. It’s even worse falling in love as a Veela. Kai’s heard too many horror stories of Veela manipulating the emotions of their lovers, of forcing them into a relationship — even marriage — against their will.

The irony of it all? Kai is, essentially, a walking, talking love potion.

Kai’s done the calculations, and this is a risk he absolutely cannot take.

—

**Soobin, the next day**

Soobin considers himself a pretty reserved person. He isn’t explosively outgoing like Yeonjun, or enjoyably chatty like Beomgyu, or wickedly witty like Taehyun, or unashamedly spontaneous like Kai. He prefers to keep the things he loves close to his heart.

There are, in fact, really only about three things in the world that Soobin is unapologetically, shamelessly and outwardly partial to.

One: Flying. He loves flying, even though he doesn’t really care much for Quidditch. Why chase after balls when he can be chasing the valley winds, the way the water skims beneath his feet across the Giant Lake, the way the trees whisper in his ears when he dips into the forest canopies? It’s part of the reason why Soobin loves owls — and flying creatures in general — so much. Soobin has resigned himself to never being able to comprehend the hype over Quidditch, but that’s okay. The euphoria in Kai’s eyes whenever he catches the Golden Snitch eases his understanding bit by bit, every time.

Two: Food. He loves all food. He isn’t a picky eater, and he doesn’t discriminate — though spicy food is arguably the bane of his existence. If Soobin were ever to have children of his own (in the far-off future, perhaps, when adoption by a single male isn’t so frowned upon by society), Soobin aims to bring his kids up the exact same way his parents had done, with a love and respect for any and all kinds of food.

Last, but very much not the least: Huening Kai. Loving Kai is, by now, ingrained into his existence, like his passion for flying and his enthusiasm for food. It’s impossible not to, when Kai’s so _good_ , so giving, and so cute all the time.

Especially when his face lights up at seeing Tobin awake and responsive again, when Tobin pushes its little furry face into the palm of Kai’s hand. Soobin has a soft spot named Huening Kai the size of the Giant Lake, and he isn’t ashamed of it.

Kai’s joy is, unfortunately, short-lived.

Professor Park tells them in a hushed voice that he’s almost 100% certain Tobin’s been drugged, and that he’ll be escalating this to Headmaster Kim. The plan is to set up a surveillance camera at the foot of Kai’s bed, he says, just to see if anyone really does try to approach his bed over the next few nights. In the meantime, Kai is under express orders to continue sleeping with Soobin.

Kai gets all jittery after that and refuses to let go of Tobin. “There’s a crazy rabbit drug lord on the loose!” he hisses by way of explanation, and, well, what can Soobin say in response to that, really?

It’s the last class of the day when Soobin sees them through the window: Kai and Aiko, flying loops around each other at the Quidditch pitch. Kai has a certain way of flying, elegance with a touch of haphazardness — Soobin would recognise it any day from miles away.

Soobin checks the clock. It’s 5.05pm. Oh.

_Just like old times._

Aiko isn’t even that great a flier, he thinks absently to himself. What she lacks for in grace and technical mastery, she makes up for in spunk and fearlessness.

“— Soobin-sshi, perhaps the window might offer some answers?” Professor Min says, rapping the table with his knuckles.

Soobin’s head whips back around. “Sorry, professor,” he stammers.

“I was asking,” Professor Min drawls, “would you like answer why Diffusers aren’t an optimal means for administering potions?”

Soobin blinks and attempts rapidly to extract what little information he has about Diffusers from his brain. What are Diffusers again?

“The diffusion can’t be targeted and might spread to others by accident,” Yeji pipes up helpfully. Thank Merlin for Yeji.

“Yes, but I wasn’t asking you, Yeji-sshi,” Professor Min says. “Nonetheless. That is correct. Please pay attention, Soobin-sshi — unfortunately there are no magical Diffusers for knowledge, though I’m sure that would be extremely useful.”

Soobin sits up straight and pastes an expression of abject apology on his face.

“Now,” Professor Min continues. “Diffusers do come in handy when your subject is unconscious but needs urgent attention. The object diffuses the healing potion directly into your bloodstream without a need for oral consumption — but first, ensure that your subject and no one else is within a three-metre radius of the Diffuser, otherwise, like Yeji-sshi said, it‘ll also be diffused into whoever else is within radius. The time of diffusion varies according to the potion you’re administering...”

The rest of Potions is spent attempting valiantly to look like he’s paying attention to Professor Min while simultaneously sneaking glances out the window. Kai and Aiko look like they’re having a ball of a time — quite literally — there’s the distinctive golden flash of a practice Snitch zipping around the Quidditch pitch, and Soobin can practically hear Kai’s peals of laughter.

His fists clench.

Kai is allowed a little romance, Soobin tells himself. He needs to suck it up. He needs to be a good, supportive best friend. He — he’s suddenly being hit in the head by a scrunched up ball of parchment, ow, what the fuck?

Soobin bends down to pick it up from the floor, opening it up.

_you owe me! trouble in paradise? Y_

Soobin slants an amused glance at Yeji, who’s sitting a table away and looking the picture of attentiveness. Soobin writes a quick message:

_Thanks for the save. Drinks on me, next time we_   
_go to the city? Also, no idea what you’re talking about_

He balls up his note and throws it back. He and Yeji have a... curious friendship. He blames it on the mistletoe.

The next note lands on his table, neatly enough to know that Yeji had most definitely aimed the previous ball at his head on purpose.

_accepted. P.S. they look cute together, don’t they? ;-)_

Yeji widens her eyes innocently when Soobin throws his note and an annoyed look back at her. 

_Aiko seems nice_

Yeji’s next note expertly hits Soobin’s quill off the table. Slytherins. Soobin freezes when Professor Min turns around, throwing a suspicious glare in his direction. He picks his quill up and unrolls Yeji’s note only when Professor Min returns to the blackboard.

_don't let your lover boy get away!!!_

Soobin frowns, and is halfway through writing _He’s not my lover boy_ when he decides, fuck it, and balls up the note and stuffs it in his pocket. There’s no use fighting it. He’s borne the brunt of years of teasing — what’s one more scrap piece of parchment?

It doesn’t matter, anyway, what other people think of him and Kai. It’s only a matter of days, or weeks, or months, before whatever it is between Kai and Aiko develops into something more, just like what had happened with Kai and that random Ravenclaw whats-her-name last year. Yunmi? Miyun? There’s a ‘mi’ somewhere, Soobin’s sure if it.

Perhaps he’s better off finding someone else to replace No. 3 on his list, Soobin thinks woefully, as Professor Min launches into instructions for their next assignment. It can’t be healthy, pining away like this.

Outside, Kai and Aiko continue their agonising loops around the Quidditch pitch, brooms flying unnecessarily close together. Why do they even need to fly so close, anyway?

Another note hits him in the head. Yeji clearly has no regard at all for paying attention to class.

_you should tell him. take it from me, i know_   
_how you feel. but look at me and ryujin now!_

Soobin rolls his eyes. Yeji and Ryujin have been grossly in love since they were Fifth Years. Ironically enough, Soobin had played a key role in their getting-together — it had involved a Christmas party, terrifyingly bloodthirsty mistletoe, and, as a result of said bloodthirsty mistletoe, having to kiss Yeji in front of all their catcalling friends. The kiss had caused quite a stir between Yeji and Ryujin. The rest is history.

The only positive consequence to that horrifying kiss, Soobin thinks mildly, is the unlikely friendship that he and Yeji had struck up afterwards. There’s something remarkably moving about panic-whispering _If it makes you feel any better, I’m gay!_ to Yeji as the mistletoe attempted to yank their faces together and having Yeji hiss _Same!_ in return.

Scowling, Soobin scribbles down his response.

_Rub it in, why don’t you? It’s different._   
_He doesn’t like me like that_

Yeji’s response cheekily flies down the back of his shirt. Soobin stares daggers at her.

_i didn’t think she liked me like that either until i asked._   
_life is full of surprises. we’re both graduating soon. don’t_   
_you want to make the most of your last year with kai?_   
_at least try. aiko’s nice, but i’m pretty sure kai has the_   
_hots for you too & i’ve been rooting for you two_   
_since forever. get your shit together before it’s too late!!!_

Well. That last line feels a little uncalled for. Soobin _totally_ has his shit together. He’s a good student who scores decent grades. He’s a prefect. He’s licensed in Apparition. He has great friends. He knows what he wants to do with his life after graduating. The only thing that’s missing from his neat checklist of _Shit to Get Together_ is, well — a boyfriend. But that's optional.

Outside, Kai performs a figure-8 in the sky. What a show-off.

Maybe Yeji’s right, Soobin muses. Perhaps he does stand a chance, especially now that Kai might also be into guys.

Aiko follows suit, flying a figure-8 just as perfectly as Kai.

Or perhaps not.

Kai is, in all likelihood, just disoriented by the lingering after effects of the love potion. It would be super uncool to take advantage of his confusion.

Abruptly, Soobin is struck by the memory of him crowding Kai behind a stack of Butterbeer barrels last night and drunkenly telling him that he’d be open for experimentation.

Well, then.

He’s fucked.

—

**Huening Kai, in Soobin’s bed**

“Maybe you should accept Aiko’s offer,” Soobin says suddenly, without preamble.

“What offer?” Kai asks blankly, looking up from the readings he’s been trying to cram for tomorrow’s Transfiguration quiz. Transfiguration requires _wands_ and _incantations_. Why on earth does it involve so much _reading?_

“You know,” Soobin says, sounding slightly uncomfortable. “The offer she made the other day, in the Great Hall. To be her date for Homecoming Ball.”

Right.

To be frank, Kai’s been so caught up in the whole _Veritaserum_ situation and Quidditch trials that he’d completely forgotten about Homecoming Ball.

“You think I should?” Kai asks, carefully, turning the page.

He gets it. It’s weird for them to be dates, especially now that he isn’t supposedly madly in love with Soobin anymore.

“She seems nice,” Soobin says, pointedly not answering Kai’s question.

There’s a short pause, in which Kai frantically racks his brain for something to say.

“She is,” Kai says eventually. She _is_ nice. Aiko is feisty on a broom and has a wicked sense of humour. They’d spent the evening after class catching up at the Quidditch pitch, reminiscing about the times they’d flown together as kids, like that time Kai had accidentally flown into a tree because he’d been too busy talking to Aiko. Kai vaguely remembers that. He’s pretty sure he’d lost a tooth.

The thing is, he also vaguely remembers accidentally presenting as Veela a few times when they were kids, and Aiko going all starry-eyed. He’d been young with, at best, marginally acceptable control of his Veela magic. He’d been able to rein it in after a few seconds each time, and he’s, like, 90% sure Aiko hadn’t known what a Veela was at the tender age of six, but still.

He can never be too sure, and this... not knowing freaks him out a little.

Anyway, Aiko’s family had moved to Japan when they were both eight-years-old. Absence is supposed to make the heart grow fonder, but in this case, Kai had kind of… forgotten about Aiko. In his defence, he isn’t the best at being sentimental.

Soobin, on the other hand, is an expert at the art of sentimentality.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” Soobin says, which — well, now Kai feels bad, because that wasn’t at all what he was thinking. “I can go stag with the rest.”

Maybe Soobin just feels weird about the whole “love potion” thing. It’s totally understandable if he wants to distance himself from involving himself in anything romantically-inclined with Kai. He gets it. Really.

Even if it stings just a little.

It doesn’t matter.

“Okay,” Kai says.

“Okay,” Soobin echoes.

“I’ll ask her tomorrow morning, then,” Kai says, a little awkward, eyes trained on the first paragraph of the page he’d flipped to. He’s read it, like, three times over by now, but he still has no idea what it’s trying to tell him.

“You — you could give her a rose, or something,” Soobin says helpfully. “I think girls like that kind of thing.”

“Does she look like a rose kind of girl?” Kai asks, dubiously. Tobin chooses this moment to hop into his lap, displacing the Transfiguration textbook from his hands. Just as well. At the rate he’s been absorbing information, he might as well be reading the book upside down — there probably wouldn’t be much of a difference.

“Maybe not,” Soobin admits. “But you can’t go wrong with roses, right?”

Tobin snuffles Kai’s palm, no doubt looking for treats.

“You saying you’d like to receive roses, hyung?” Kai teases. “Noted. I’ll make sure to let your next suitor know.”

Soobin looks at him, all warm and amused. “And where do I find this suitor you speak of?”

If Kai were still suffering the effects of _Veritaserum_ , he’d have said _right here_ in probably less than a heartbeat, so thank Merlin the _Veritaserum_ ’s worn off early.

“You only need to say the word,” Kai says, reproachfully. “I can name three guys who’d throw themselves at you if you’d only give them the time of the day.”

And, like, half the female population, but that’s already a given.

“Is that so,” Soobin says, halfheartedly, obviously losing interest in the topic. Sometimes, Kai wonders why Soobin never seems to be interested in dating. It’s a little odd, given his exceedingly good looks and perfectly crafted Hufflepuff-prefect boy-next-door image. Soobin’s the kind of boy even the parents of any student would fall in love with.

Soobin picks up Kai’s textbook, flips to the page Kai had been attempting to read. “Animagus transfiguration? Wow, this was, like, my favourite lesson of Sixth Year.”

“If you could be an Animagus, what would you be?” Kai asks idly, stretching out on Soobin’s bed. His readings can wait till tomorrow.

“Probably a wolf,” Soobin says, without hesitation. “Or an eagle. I’ve been considering it, actually.”

Kai’s mouth drops open. “Becoming a real Animagus?”

“Yeah. If I’m going to pursue a serious career in Magizoology, it might come in useful,” Soobin says. “What about you?”

“Hang _on_ ,” Kai says. “We can’t just — skim over the topic like it’s nothing — what! When are you gonna start? Isn’t becoming an Animagus, like, super hard? And _dangerous_ , what if something goes wrong and you end up _permanently mutated?_ ”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Soobin says drily.

“Sorry,” Kai says. “I mean, if anyone could do it, it’d be you, but it’s just — I’m just worried, is all.”

“Aww,” Soobin coos, flinging Kai’s Transfiguration textbook to the side and rolling on top of Kai, digging a hand into his belly. “Hueningie’s worried about me?”

“Hyung,” Kai gasps, laughing, struggling against Soobin. He doesn’t manage to throw Soobin off — Soobin’s still too much of a giant — but it’s a near thing. Tobin hops away, obviously deigning himself above the matters of two brawling teenagers, and they end up breathing into each other’s spaces, Soobin’s legs sprawled half over his, Soobin’s chest on Kai’s, Soobin’s elbows caging him in.

Kai feels himself flush.

Soobin’s looking at him like — like he’s considering something. Like, Kai thinks semi-hysterically, like he’s looking at a plate of steak and he‘s trying to figure out if it’s medium rare or medium well-done.

 _Experiment_ , Soobin’s voice whispers in the space between his ears.

Perhaps —

Soobin’s lips are pursed together, curled in slight amusement, the swell of his bottom lip pressed full against the curve of his upper lip.

Perhaps, just maybe —

“You’ve got a little something, here,” Soobin says, voice soft, and Kai’s eyes dart up guiltily from his lips.

Soobin swipes a thumb over Kai’s cheek, grinning. “Two questions: Why do you have ink on your cheek, and does this mean you didn’t wash your face?”

“One, homework, and two, I _totally_ washed my face,” Kai says, making no move to push Soobin away. Soobin doesn’t move his hand away either, just continues stroking Kai’s cheek with his thumb, the same considering look on his face again.

Kai feels the Veela in him rearing. The wave of desire, raw and tantalising. He wants, so badly, for Soobin to lean down and kiss him. For Soobin to kiss his lips, his neck, his cheek. For Soobin to mark him up, make him his. It would be so easy to present, to take what he wants so badly, to let a little bit of his power slip.

Kai clamps down on the feeling, hard, and rolls away from under Soobin.

He can’t.

“I’m tired,” he announces, turning away from Soobin. “Good night, hyung.”

A beat, then two, and then: “Good night, Hueningie.“

Soobin turns off his bedside lamp and draws the canopy curtains, and Kai lets out a shaky breath he didn’t know he was holding.


	3. midsummer's night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai‘s pants are well-pressed and his dark hair is styled into gentle waves. He did that, Soobin thinks with faint pride. Kai’s top button’s undone — when did that happen? Soobin clearly remembers helping him button up and straighten his collar — and his robes hug his shoulders in ways that makes Soobin kind of want to hug him.
> 
> They look good on him.
> 
> Kai looks good, in general.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, this fic certainly takes the cake for being the most plot-intensive fic i've ever written!!! *breathes heavily* 
> 
> anyway - please enjoy! <3 
> 
> WARNINGS: references to alleged rape (it didn't happen!) and vague references to mild sexual content at the very end

**Soobin, the day of Homecoming Ball**

The thing about balls, or parties, or dances, or whatever-have-yous, is that they’re just so _stressful_.

It’s stressful, watching Kai approach Aiko’s table with a hilariously agonised look on his face, and present to her the rose that he and Soobin had both snuck into the Greenhouse to pluck (illegally) that morning.

It’s stressful, suffering through the sympathetic looks Taehyun keeps sending him afterwards and Yeji’s — very much unwarranted and unwelcome — glares.

It’s stressful, getting his fingers all waxy and gross in his bid to style Kai‘s hair later that evening, wondering all the while if Aiko’s just going to undo all his hard work by sliding her stupidly elegant fingers into Kai’s hair in a kiss Soobin _knows_ will probably happen before the end of the night. Aiko’s pretty. Kai’s cute. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.

It’s _highly_ stressful, enduring Yeonjun’s blatant staring when he turns up alone to the Gryffindor Common Room after releasing Kai to pick Aiko up from the Slytherin Dungeon.

“What?” Soobin says, looking self-consciously down at himself. Did he miss a button? Forget to zip up his pants?

“Nothing,” Yeonjun says, innocently. “You look good.”

Beomgyu gives him a double thumbs-up from where he’s struggling into his formal robes. “Very dashing,” he says approvingly.

“Meanwhile,” Taehyun grumbles, rolling up the hems of his pants. “Why do we call ourselves wizards when we can’t even figure out how to tailor our pants?”

“ _Your_ pants,” Yeonjun teases. “Mine are just fine.”

“Okay, we get it, daddy long legs,” Beomgyu says, placing a hand on Yeonjun’s elbow, and then Yeonjun’s turning to him and winking salaciously and saying: “Who you calling daddy?” and Soobin thinks he pukes a little in his mouth.

They traipse over to the Great Hall in nearly identical plain black formal robes (“Thank Merlin we don’t have to dress to themes like Pajama Party or _Superheroes_ ,” Taehyun says with disdain, to which Soobin has to agree wholeheartedly). By the time they arrive, the Homecoming Ball is already in full swing.

The Great Hall is, unlike them, splendidly decorated. Just about the entire ceiling is filled with floating, twinkly orbs of light — so bright, they almost drown out the actual stars in the night sky overhead. There is, extraordinarily, a humongous oak tree right smack in the middle of the Great Hall. Most of the shimmering orbs seem to be concentrated in its branches, changing colours in waves of gold, purple and blue. Circular oak tables and wicker chairs strung with vines and wildflowers line the circumference of the Great Hall, making space for, Soobin realises slowly with dread, what looks like a godforsaken _dance floor_ in the middle. Music that Soobin can only describe as twinkly yet smooth, upbeat yet romantic, pulls him in.

The Great Hall looks like something out of the Fairy Realm.

“Oh,” Soobin says, the dots connecting. “It’s _A Midsummer Night’s_ _Dream_.” 

“What?” Beomgyu says.

“It’s a — it’s a muggle reference,” Soobin attempts. “Basically a famous muggle play about love and fairies and love potions derived from flowers.”

Taehyun raises an eyebrow. “Eerily reflective of your situation, hyung.”

“What do you mean,” Soobin says, and is in the middle of mustering up his greatest scowl of all time to send Taehyun’s way when Kai and Aiko arrive, Kai’s unmistakable laughter reaching him from the main entrance.

Soobin’s already seen Kai in his formal robes, of course — he‘d helped him wear it — but still his mouth goes dry.

Kai‘s pants are well-pressed and his dark hair is styled into gentle waves. He did that, Soobin thinks with faint pride. Kai’s top button’s undone — when did that happen? Soobin clearly remembers helping him button up _and_ straighten his collar — and his robes hug his shoulders in ways that makes Soobin kind of want to hug him.

They look good on him.

Kai looks good, in general.

“You’re staring,” Taehyun says.

“No, I’m not,” Soobin says, closing his mouth with a snap.

Aiko’s answering laughter is just as bright, and Soobin briefly entertains the thought of jinxing himself with a Sleeping Charm just so he can pass out and wake up the next morning without having to endure what‘s already turning out to be a spectacularly awful night.

“Jealousy looks good on you,” Taehyun comments. “You don’t look so soft and push-over-y.”

“What —“ Soobin splutters. “I’m not a pushover!”

“I‘m not saying you are,” Taehyun says congenially. “I‘m just saying you sometimes look like one.”

“You hurt my feelings,” Soobin tells Taehyun, who rolls his eyes and pulls him to the nearest table, overflowing with fruit and meat and what looks like muggle wine. Yeonjun and Beomgyu are already in the midst of tearing through the food, yet the plates they devour simply fill themselves right up again.

“Welcome to the Midsummer’s Night Homecoming Ball!” Headmaster Kim announces, his voice booming over the music. “I only ask two things of you tonight — enjoy yourselves, and no food fights, please! It took us almost two days to clean up last year’s mess, and you know from experience that means two days without good food, so. The choice is yours, young madams and sirs! Have a wonderful evening!”

“I am certainly having a wonderful evening,” Yeonjun declares, downing a glass of wine in a single gulp. “Mm, what _is_ this? It’s delicious.”

“Muggle wine,” Soobin supplies helpfully, but he’s pretty sure Yeonjun can’t hear him over the distractingly loud crunching of what sounds like breadsticks in his mouth.

The rest of the night follows in a similar fashion of chaotic eating and confused couples milling around the oak tree. Soobin realises, belatedly, that they’re dancing. Right. And then he realises, in quick succession, that there’s a _DJ booth_ up in the tree branches, and that’s where the music’s coming from. Soobin blinks once. Blinks again.

“Hey, isn’t that Jeon Jungkook?” he asks, mid-chew, pointing up at Jeon Jungkook, who he’s pretty sure is bopping his head and mixing the music while levitating _in the tree._

Yeonjun, Beomgyu and Taehyun all crane their necks up.

“ _Whoa_ ,” Beomgyu whispers.

Everyone knows Golden Boy Jeon Jungkook. He’s only the most legendary of all Head Boys of his generation, Valedictorian of his year, Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, teacher’s assistant — you name it, he’s probably done it. Rumour has it he’d taken seven N.E.W.T.s and aced them all before graduating to become today’s “youngest, most promising up-and-coming Auror!”, according to the occasional news headline. This Auror, apparently, now appears to moonlight as a DJ as well.

It’s been three years since Jeon Jungkook graduated, but Soobin’s pretty sure he still has an embarrassingly teensy crush on him.

“Oh, Merlin,” Beomgyu says, suddenly sounding significantly less awe-struck and a lot more disturbed. “Isn’t that —“

“— Headmaster Kim and Doctor Kim, dancing together?” Yeonjun finishes. “That is. Indeed. Yes.”

It isn’t unheard of for Headmaster Kim to visit the dance floor, but watching him sway to the music with Doctor Kim, who admittedly looks very dapper in a set of dark red robes, is certainly a rare sight to behold.

“And,” Beomgyu continues, perking up a little, “isn’t that our baby Hueningie with his pretty date, dancing?”

Soobin turns his head so fast he hears his neck crack a little. He must be getting old.

Kai and Aiko are slow dancing in the middle of the dance floor, and they’re breathtaking. Aiko’s done something to her short hair to make it all floaty wavy, and her dress is irritatingly glittery, and there’s a slit in her dress that goes straight up her thigh, which Soobin does not appreciate at all. Kai’s hands are on her waist. Soobin appreciates that even less.

“Our baby’s all grown up,” Yeonjun says dramatically, hand to heart.

Beomgyu looks at them slyly. “You know what would be a great idea?”

Soobin has a bad feeling about this.

“What?” Taehyun asks.

Beomgyu leaps up from his chair. “Joining them on the dance floor!”

That is a _terrible_ idea, but evidently no one but Soobin seems to think it is, and so that’s how he ends up slow dancing with Taehyun, of all people, while Beomgyu and Yeonjun twirl obnoxiously beside them.

“I refuse to disturb their date,” Soobin says, dancing Taehyun backwards and away from Kai and Aiko.

“I don’t get it,” Taehyun says, sounding exasperated. “You love him. He’s obviously in love with you. What’s stopping you?”

“First of all,” Soobin says, because there are so many things wrong with Taehyun’s statement. “He doesn’t love me like that because he’s straight, remember?” Or he might be confused, but Taehyun doesn’t need to know that. “Second of all, he and Aiko already have a — a thing. Third of all, he’s my _best friend_.”

“They say the best lovers are best friends first,” Taehyun says, sagely.

“What? Who said that?”

“Me,” Taehyun says. “Pretty good advice, if I do say so myself.”

“You missed out the part where they have to have romantic feelings for each other first,” Soobin points out.

“Are you _blind_ ,” Taehyun hisses.

“... not the last time I checked?”

Taehyun, purposefully, steps on Soobin’s foot.

“You know, when you drunk-cried to me last year when Kai started dating Yunmi, I thought you were finally gonna get your shit together and ask him out,” Taehyun says, giving Soobin a long-suffering look. “Why is the _same thing_ happening again this year?”

Why does everyone think he needs to get his shit together? Soobin is offended.

“For all the same reasons I didn’t ask him out last year,” Soobin says, starting to get a little annoyed.

On the other side of the Great Hall, Aiko leans up to whisper something into Kai’s ear, and Kai breaks into laughter. Then his eyes slide over to Soobin, and their gazes lock for a frozen moment.

Soobin looks away.

“You know what,” Soobin says, pulling Taehyun off the dance floor. “I think I need another drink.”

—

**Huening Kai**

Kai loves balls, or parties, or dances, or whatever-have-yous. He loves the romance and the dressing up and the dazzling lights that fill the Great Hall. But he’s slowly starting to realise that the largest contributing factor to his enthusiasm for such events isn’t the romance, or the dressing up, or the decor. It’s the company.

Soobin looks like he’s having fun.

“Hey, so,” Aiko says, tip-toeing so Kai can hear her over the music. “What’s going on between you and Soobin-sshi?”

Instinctively, Kai laughs, a knee-jerk reaction to allow time for his brain to flounder. His gaze flicks over to where Soobin’s dancing with Taehyun, of all people, only to find Soobin already watching him, eyes dark.

The smile slips off Kai’s face.

Soobin turns, hand light on Taehyun’s wrist, and leaves the dance floor.

“What do you mean?” Kai asks.

“You told me he was bringing you to the Ball,” Aiko says, tentatively. “Remember?”

Ah.

”Haha!” Kai says, panicking. “Yeah. No. There’s nothing going on! It was a — a dare. Sorry. I shouldn’t have rejected you. That was shitty of me.”

“It’s okay,” Aiko says, lightly. “You had me there. I mean, the way he looks at you... I genuinely thought you guys were dating.“

Kai shifts uncomfortably.

“We’re not,” he says.

“But...?”

“But nothing!”

“You’re a terrible liar, Huening Kai.” Aiko leans back to study Kai’s face. “I see right through you.”

Aiko is, sometimes, unnervingly astute. Kai blames it on their childhood together, back when he hadn’t been so great at lying. Aiko knows all his tells. He likes to think he’s an awesome liar now — he kind of has to be.

“What do you see?” Kai asks, loftily.

“You like him,” Aiko says, bluntly. “But you’re scared.”

“What are you, like, a Legilimens?” Kai jokes, and then freezes, staring at Aiko in horror. “ _Are_ you?”

“I studied it in Japan,” Aiko says, offhand.

“ _What?_ ”

“Kidding,” Aiko says, smiling sweetly. “No, I’m not using Legilimens on you, Kai, that would be so rude. I just have eyes, that’s all. Anyone with eyes would probably tell you the same thing.”

“Actually, no?” Kai says.

“Oh,” Aiko says. “Well, you’re all idiots then.”

“Don’t tell anyone,” Kai says, heart thumping anxiously. “No one knows.”

The song they’ve been dancing to changes into something smooth and slow. Seductive. There are couples all around them, wrapped up in each other, and Kai finds himself thinking how much he‘d rather be with Soobin on the sidelines, people-watching and making silly predictions on who’s going to end up making out with who before the night ends, like they always do, instead of stuck here in the arms of a long-lost childhood friend who always seems to know too much about him.

Someone bumps into Kai‘s right shoulder.

“Enjoying yourself?” Yeonjun crows, directly into his ear.

“Not as much as you,” Kai says, eyeing the way Yeonjun’s got Beomgyu pressed flush against him, chest to chest, hip to hip. Suspicious.

“We’re just blending in, man,” Beomgyu says, resting his head on Yeonjun’s shoulder.

“So are you two, like, a thing, or...” Aiko asks, sly as ever, and Yeonjun and Beomgyu leap apart so quickly they nearly jump straight into the path of two other unsuspecting couples.

“No!” Yeonjun squawks, at the same time as Beomgyu, who splutters: “Why would you _think_ that?”

“Well,” Aiko says, eyeing them both. “Just a feeling.”

 _She’s a Legilimens_ , Kai mouths at them, widening his eyes meaningfully. Yeonjun and Beomgyu pale.

“You know what,” Yeonjun says shrilly. “I’m hungry. You hungry, Gyu? I’m starving. Let’s — we should go.”

“But we just ate, like, three helpings,” Beomgyu says, sounding confused, and then Yeonjun’s dragging him off, looking extremely disconcerted.

“What did you do?” Aiko asks, sounding amused.

“Nothing,” Kai says, casually. “So, Ms Matchmaker — thoughts on Yeonjun and Beomgyu?”

—

**Soobin**

He’s only just finished knocking back his... fourth?... glass of wine when, all of a sudden, someone’s saying to him, lilting: “Parties not your thing?”

Soobin lowers his glass slowly from his face, almost not daring to breathe, because that’s _Jeon Jungkook_ , across the table, holding up a glass of wine of his own, talking to _him_.

“You,” Soobin says, eloquently, gaping.

“Me,” Jungkook says, agreeably. “Cheers?”

“Cheers,” Soobin breathes, weakly, picking up his fifth glass of wine and praying he doesn’t accidentally drop it from how hard his fingers are shaking.

Golden Boy _Jeon Jungkook_. Is _talking_. To _him_.

Two tables away, Taehyun pauses, mid-chat with a cute Gryffindor Sixth Year girl, to raise both eyebrows at him.

“Soobin, right?” Jungkook says, after taking a delicate sip. Fuck. He’s so cool. Everything he does is cool. He makes even drinking wine look cool.

Soobin abruptly regrets drinking so much. He is most definitely, without a doubt, going to embarrass himself, one way or another, in front of Golden Boy Jeon Jungkook before the night ends tonight.

“No,” Soobin says, without thinking. “I-I mean. Yes! Fuck. Sorry. Yes, it’s Soobin, hi, nice to meet you, Jeon Jungkook, right? I mean — Jungkook, sorry, I don’t know why I said your full name like that, um.”

Jungkook laughs, and it’s the best thing Soobin’s heard all night.

“Not better than my mixes, I hope,” Jungkook says, and Soobin realises with a start that he’dblurted his thoughts out loud.

Merlin. This is already a disaster.

Soobin desperately attempts to catch Taehyun’s eyes again so he can, hopefully, send telepathic emergency _SAVE ME!_ brainwaves over his way.

“So...” Jungkook says, trailing off like he isn’t sure if he should be saying what he wants to say. “Why’s a handsome guy like you sitting here by yourself like this?”

Handsome. Jungkook just called him _handsome_.

Soobin only realises he should probably say something when Jungkook coughs awkwardly, too many beats later.

“Yeah, parties aren’t really my thing,” Soobin says.

“Me too,” Jungkook says.

“What brings you here, then?” Soobin asks. “Sorry. If you don’t mind me asking. Aren’t you normally out there saving lives or something?”

“Professor Min hired me,” Jungkook says. “I DJ on the side, when I’m not in the field. It’s kind of like a hobby.” Jungkook laughs, a little self-consciously. “And I thought it’d be nice to come back and catch up with the rest. Have you seen Tae and Jimin around? I mean. Professor V and Professor Park. I haven’t seen them all night.”

Soobin blinks. Huh. He hasn’t. It’s weird that he hasn’t. Professor V and Professor Park are usually the first to tear up the dance floor.

“I haven’t either. Maybe they haven’t arrived yet,” Soobin says.

Jungkook shrugs. “Fashionably late as always. Guess I’ll just wait around.” He crosses his legs and leans back, making himself comfortable. “You like my mixes? I pre-recorded this set, so I’ve got some time off.”

Soobin nods his head enthusiastically. Jungkook’s music could be trash and he’d probably fawn over it anyway. But Jungkook is amazing, so his music’s nothing short of amazing too. How does one even get to be as amazing as Jungkook, anyway? He probably doesn’t even need to make a checklist of things he needs to achieve, like Soobin does. Jungkook probably already has all his shit together just by breathing.

“Trust me, I don’t,” Jungkook says drily.

Oh, Merlin. Soobin’s been thinking his thoughts out loud again, hasn’t he.

“Yes, I suppose you have,” Jungkook says, looking more and more amused.

“I’m _so sorry_ ,” Soobin says, scrambling up and dying a little bit on the inside. “I think, um, I might’ve had too much to drink, this is — embarrassing! I’m just — gonna — go.”

“No, please,” Jungkook says, placing a hand on Soobin’s elbow. “Stay.“

Soobin sits down with a _whoomph_ , his elbow going hot under Jungkook’s fingertips.

“So,” Jungkook says, turning his face up to Soobin, curious. “What’s this checklist of shit to get together you speak of?”

“Uh,” Soobin says. “It’s just — fuck, it’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid,” Jungkook says, reassuring. “Don’t worry. You’re in your final year, right? I did, in fact, have a checklist when I was a Seventh Year too.” Jungkook quirks a teasing grin. “It’s hard work, being so amazing.”

Soobin feels himself flush a violent red.

“Um,” Soobin says. “It’s just a stupid checklist of things I want to achieve before graduating. Acing my N.E.W.Ts, being a good prefect, finding a job, all that fun stuff. But everyone’s been on my back lately about asking this guy — person — out. It’s just — it’s not the end of the world if I don’t get attached in my final year, right? I mean, you’re single too, right?”

“Yeah,” Jungkook says. “Yeah, I’m single.” He fixes Soobin with a shrewd look. “Everyone’s been on your back about asking a guy out?”

Soobin goes very, very still.

“Um,” he squeaks. “Yeah.”

“Chill,” Jungkook says, patting Soobin’s arm. “It’s cool. Breathe?”

Soobin just nods, wide-eyed, and lets himself breathe.

“Who’s the guy?” Jungkook asks.

Soobin must be more drunk than he’d thought, because his brain seems to think that spilling the story of his tragically unrequited love for Kai to Golden Boy Jeon Jungkook is a good idea.

“Wow,” Jungkook says, when Soobin finally finishes his attempt at summing up his three-year-long tale of one-sided pining. “I hate to confuse you any further, but you actually might stand a chance.”

“But — the love potion,” Soobin says, weakly.

Jungkook eyes Soobin. “This Huening Kai of yours,” he says. “He’s a Ravenclaw, right? I think I remember seeing him around in the Tower. Is he a good liar?”

Soobin blinks. How does lying have anything to do with this? “I guess,” Soobin says, a montage of Kai cheating his way through endless games of Exploding Snap playing in his head. He stabs his fork into the nearest slice of apple, suddenly jittery.

“In my line of work,” Jungkook says, “I’ve had my fair share of dealing with love potion related crimes, but I’ve never encountered a victim whose sexuality changed because of it.”

Soobin misses the next slice of apple. He accidentally sends it shooting off the table and, dismally, onto the floor. He stares. Says: “Oh.” And then: “Are you saying he’s...”

“Probably not as straight as you think he is?” Jungkook says, nudging another slice of apple towards Soobin. “Yeah. And I don’t think it has anything to do with love potions.”

“Oh,” Soobin says. “Holy crap.”

In his periphery, Kai spins Aiko in a completely unnecessary twirl.

“And that makes me wonder,” Jungkook continues, slowly, “why he thought it was necessary to continue lying to you about his sexuality.”

That is... a good question. Soobin takes the apple, popping it into his mouth with renewed fervour. It doesn’t make any sense. Kai _knows_ he’s gay. There’s no reason for him to be ashamed or scared. So — why _?_

“I wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions, being an Auror and all,” Jungkook says, laughing self-deprecatingly. “That’s him, right?” He points at Kai, who’s now shimmying distractingly with Aiko. “Wow. Puberty’s done him well. He used to be, like, _tiny._ ”

Soobin nods, still speechless from shock.

“You know what we should do?” Jungkook says, a mischievous grin lighting up his face. Soobin is, abruptly, reminded of Beomgyu and his ‘great ideas’. “We should go out there and collect evidence.”

“What — what evidence?” Soobin asks, faintly.

Jungkook takes one last swig of wine, leans across the table suavely, and says: “Here’s what I’m thinking...”

—

**Huening Kai**

Kai likes to think he has an exemplary level of endurance, built up from years of flying as a Seeker, but no one ever told him dancing would be this _exhausting_.

Kai’s about to float the idea across to Aiko to maybe, you know, rest a little, when he sees them, on the other side of the oak tree: Soobin. Dancing. With a _very_ attractive guy, who looks a little like — wait a minute. Isn’t that — is that — Golden Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, Youngest, Most Promising Up-and-Coming Auror, Jeon Jungkook?

Kai freezes, and Aiko accidentally steps on his foot.

“Whoa,” Aiko says. “Sorry!”

Kai ignores her in favour of staring, hard, at Soobin, who has a large hand wrapped aroundthe back of Golden Boy Jeon Jungkook’s neck, his formal robes straining tight across his shoulders from the way he’s leaning down into Jungkook’s space. There is absolutely no reason for the two of them to have their faces so near each other. Why are they so — _close_? Jungkook’s arms are wrapped around Soobin’s waist, and his face is upturned towards Soobin’s, whose dark hair has fallen in waves across his face. Kai can’t see Soobin’s expression, but one thing is clear. All this looks. Suggestive.

Kai‘s heart sinks.

He doesn’t stand a chance against Golden Boy Jeon Jungkook.

There were never any chances to be had, anyway. He and Soobin can never be.

“— hello? Earth to Kai?”

Aiko’s waving a hand in his face.

Kai blinks.

“Sorry,” he utters, throwing one last agonised look at Soobin and Jungkook, moving slowly and gracefully in time with the music, connected at the hips. _Fuck._ “It’s just —“ Kai jerks his head in their direction, then averts his gaze when Aiko turns to look.

It’s fine. It’s fine. It had to happen, at some point — Soobin finding someone else. Falling in love with someone else. It’s the price Kai has to pay. He’s spent his whole life in Hogwarts mentally preparing himself for this moment, but he’d gotten complacent, hadn’t he? He’d fallen for Soobin’s nonchalance towards dating, and boyfriends, and anything at all related to romance. He’d gotten comfortable with the idea of having Soobin by his side forever — his but not really his, toeing the line between friendship and something more.

But Soobin was never really his, was he?

“Oh,” Aiko says, sympathetically. “Do you wanna get out of here?”

“Yes, please,” Kai breathes, and follows Aiko blindly off the dance floor, head whirling.

—

**Soobin**

“Bingo,” Jungkook murmurs into Soobin’s ear. “Yeah. He’s definitely into you.”

“What’s happening?” Soobin hisses, still bending down uncomfortably into Jungkook’s space.

“He took one look at us and charged off the dance floor looking all sad, like —“ Jungkook leans back, giving Soobin a sorrowful, doe-eyed look. He steps back, straightening his robes. “Quaffle's in your court now, Soobin-sshi. The evidence has been collected.”

“Maybe it’s just a... coincidence?” Soobin says, before being interrupted by two extremely enthusiastic professors, who engulf Jungkook in what looks like a bone-crushing hug and very un-professor-like exclamations.

“We’ve missed you so much!” Professor V declares.

Soobin tries his best not to stare.

“Anyway — good, Soobinie, we were looking for you,” Professor Park says, a little breathless. “Remember the surveillance camera we set up at the foot of Kai’s bed? So Tae and I, we were just, uh, hanging out in my quarters, and we decided to run through the footage from last night — that’s why we’re late, Kookie, sorry — and we saw. The new girl. What’s-her-name, the new Slytherin transfer? She went up to Kai’s bed last night and took a Diffuser from under his mattress. Has Yoongi — I mean, Prof Min — has he taught you about Diffusers yet? Think it’s a Seventh Year subject, right? So. Mystery solved. The Diffuser’s been causing Tobin to go all loopy, though Merlin knows what she put in the Diffuser or _why_ — good thing you’re here, eh, Auror?” Jimin winks at Jungkook. “We’ve got a case for you.”

“Wait — wait,” Soobin says, feeling the colour drain from his face. “Are you saying _Aiko’s_ been drugging Tobin? What the fuck?”

“Ah, Aiko,” Professor V says. “Yeah, that’s her name. Don’t know what kind of kinky relationship they got going on, man, but —“ He shrugs, gives Professor Park a meaningful look. “Thoughts?”

Aiko. The love potion. The Diffuser under Kai’s bed. _That’s_ why Kai recovered two days faster than Doctor Kim said he would — because he’d moved to sleep with Soobin instead. So it wasn’t the spiked drink that Kai had ingested the love potion from. It was the Diffuser.

What the fuck kind of love potion is this?

“I — I gotta go,” Soobin says, words coming out in a rush. “Jungkook-sshi, where did Kai and Aiko go?”

“Out,” Jungkook says, pointing at the main entrance. “Do you need help —“

In hindsight, perhaps asking for Auror assistance might have been a really good idea, but Soobin’s too fucking worried to think clearly. The only thing running through his head is:

He needs to find Kai.

—

**Huening Kai**

Really, he should have seen it coming.

He should have noticed the red flags, when Aiko suggested going all the way to the Quidditch pitch.

“Flying always makes me feel better,” Aiko had said, and Kai, in his disquiet, simply followed.

He should have noticed something off, when Aiko suddenly asked: “Do you ever think some people are given too much power than should be allowed?”

“You mean, like, Soobin and his power to break my heart?” Kai had joked, only to be met with chilly silence.

He _really_ should have suspected something, at least, when Aiko draws her wand, casually, turning it in her fingers as though inspecting it.

“Not that,” Aiko finally says, wiping the tip of her wand against her dress.

It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t notice the red flags until it’s too late, until Aiko points her wand at him and says: “ _Petrificus Totalus_ ,” almost cursorily, as though she were asking Kai to pass the wine.

Kai’s arms snap to his side, his whole body stiffening, and he hits the ground hard enough to see stars.

Or perhaps those are _real_ stars, Kai thinks dizzily, staring up at the clear night sky. The stars certainly seem... spirited, swimming around in his vision as they are.

“Sorry,” Aiko says, looming over Kai. “I tried to do this the easy way, but it isn’t working, for some reason.”

Kai can only blink, heart hammering against his stone-hard chest, confusion coagulating in his head.

“I know what you are,” Aiko continues, squatting down so Kai can hear her clearly. She prods Kai’s chest with her wand, and whispers the words Kai had been taught to dread. “ _Veela Revelio_.”

Kai feels it. The Veela in him preening, slicing through the protective layers he’s built over it. Feels his eyes flash blue. Feels the panic claw at his throat, struggling to emerge in a cry for help.

But even if he could scream, he can’t.

No one must know.

“Did your parents tell you what _really_ happened, when we were eight?” Aiko asks, calmly. “Why we had to leave the country? Oh, sorry! You can’t talk, can you?” She laughs, but it isn’t warm like it has been the whole night. “Your _Veela_ father —“ she spits it out, like fire on her tongue, “— raped my mom.”

No.

“I walked in on them,“ Aiko says. “I was just eight. Can you imagine? My mom — she was _screaming_.”

 _No_.

“Your coward father left immediately,” Aiko says. “And my dad thought it was best to move back to Japan, so my mom can heal and forget. But I,” Aiko digs her wand painfully into Kai’s chest, right between the bones of his ribcage, “will _never_ forget.”

The Body-Bind Curse starts wearing off, enough for Kai to move his lips.

“You — you’ve got it wrong,” Kai says, weakly, struggling for breath. “They had an affair. Your mom cheated with my dad. My dad would never rape anyone.”

“I saw it with my own two eyes,” Aiko says, coldly. “I heard the way she screamed.”

“Was she screaming before or after you entered the room?” Kai asks, feeling the Body-Bind Curse subside in his fingers.

Aiko pauses. “It doesn’t matter,” she snaps. “She told us your dad raped her.”

“She’s lying,” Kai says, desperately. “She’s covering up the affair. My dad — he told us the truth. Told us he’d cheated on my mom, and begged for forgiveness. We forgave him.”

Aiko’s wand hand stills. “Lies,” she says, now sounding uncertain.

“Why would he confess if it isn’t the truth?” Kai asks, moving his arm just slightly in an attempt to jostle his wand out of its in-sleeve compartment. His attempts are fruitless.

“You’re lying,” Aiko says, cold and controlled, standing up and pointing her wand at Kai again. “You’re _disgusting_. The school deserves to know — they have a monster in their midst, and I’ll show them. I’ll show them what you really are. You’re lucky I like you, Huening Kai — I’m only going to _imperio_ you right back into the Great Hall, so everyone can see what you are, and then I'm going to erase your memories. Your kind deserves to die, just like your father.”

A cold ball of dread settles in Kai’s chest, because he never mentioned his father’s death to Aiko, and he asks, afraid: “How did you —“

“— know that he’s dead?” Aiko laughs, cruel. “I killed him.”

—

**Soobin**

Soobin fears many things. It’s part of the reason why he’s so good at looking twice before leaping, so good at calculating his decisions. He fears the water, and he fears disappointing his family, and he fears failure.

But nothing quite compares to the fear he feels when he bursts out of the Great Hall into an empty atrium, his footsteps echoing in the silence.

Maybe he’s being paranoid. Maybe he’ll stumble into Kai and Aiko chatting in a corner, and Kai’ll smile at him in that indulgent way he does whenever Soobin does something stupid and say _I love it when you protect me_.

But what if he doesn’t?

He needs to think. Soobin paces the atrium, head spinning. Where would Aiko bring Kai to have her way with him, uninterrupted?

He’s running before the answer forms fully in his head. The Quidditch pitch. It doesn’t even bear thinking about, it’s so obvious.

Soobin summons his broomstick before exiting the building, timing it just right so he can slide onto his waiting broom the moment he bursts through the front doors.

The ride to the Quidditch pitch takes less than a minute, but it feels like an eternity. The warm summer air whips through his hair and the Hogwarts Lawn yawns dark and wide in front of him as Soobin pushes himself to fly faster, _faster_ , eyes trained to the sky in his search for two familiar figures.

He’s so focused on looking up, he nearly misses them down below. It’s Aiko’s laugh he hears first, ringing loud and sharp. _I killed him_ is the second thing he hears, and then he’s jerking to an abrupt stop, frozen in mid-air, staring in horror as Aiko utters: “ _Crucio_ ,” and Kai starts writhing in agony on the ground.

—

**Huening Kai**

The pain is unlike anything he’s ever felt before. It feels like knives in his veins, slicing through his bones, white-hot _agony_ slamming through his spine. He feels it deep in his body. In the tips of his toes. It’s everywhere, consuming him, piercing straight through him.

Vaguely, he hears himself screaming.

“It’s too bad you’re Veela,” Kai hears Aiko say, from far, far away. “I think we would’ve made great friends otherwise —“

And then there’s a blinding flash of red, and the pain stops, and cool, blessed relief floods through him.

Kai takes a shaky breath, then two. It soothes his burning lungs. And then there are hands on him, fluttering against his face, his neck, stroking soothing circles across his shoulders.

“Fuck,” he hears, and the voice is familiar, comforting, even thought it’s all floaty and distant. “Fuck, Hueningie, can you hear me?“ And then, a little broken: “Please, Huening-ah, _please_ —“

Kai opens his eyes.

It’s Soobin, eyes wide and warm and worried.

“Hyung,” Kai says, disoriented.

“Your — your eyes,” Soobin stutters, hands reaching out to cradle Kai’s face. He’s close.

Kai blames it on the Veela in him. Blames it on the _Crucio_. Blames it on the remnants of alcohol still running through his veins, because when Soobin leans in, he doesn’t lean away.

“Merlin, I thought I’d lost you,” Soobin breathes shakily, pressing their foreheads together, and Kai doesn’t know if it’s him or Soobin or perhaps the both of them, but all of a sudden, they’re breathing into each other’s space, hot shuddery breaths of fear and relief in the distance between their mouths, and then.

Then they’re kissing, lips sliding dizzily against each other, the wine Soobin had drunk bittersweet on Kai’s tongue.

The Veela in him flares, pleased, and Kai very nearly loses himself in the kiss, very nearly gives way to his nature, very nearly falls into the trap of everything he swore he would never be.

It’s that thought that shocks him back into sanity, adrenaline thrumming through Kai’s veins and forcing his body out of its pain-induced lethargy.

Kai scrambles back and away, heart hammering in his chest. He, oh Merlin, he’s still presenting. That — that’s why Soobin kissed him, or let himself be kissed. _Fuck_.

Kai tries to rein in his Veela powers, tries to stop presenting — but the Revealing Spell’s too strong, and he’s completely drained from the Cruciatus Curse.

He hauls himself up. Aiko’s prone on the ground behind Soobin, probably stunned, and Soobin’s broom hovers anxiously on his right. Soobin himself looks dazed.

“I’m sorry,” Kai barely manages to say, throat raw from screaming. He doesn’t know what else to say as he hops onto Soobin’s broom, which vibrates under his fingertips in welcome, recognising him from years and years of Kai flying shotgun with Soobin. He says, again, as sincerely as he knows how: “I’m really sorry, hyung.”

And then he kicks off from the ground, and flies away.

—

**Soobin**

_It’s too bad you’re Veela._

Aiko’s words echo through his head as Soobin murmurs _Incarcerous_ , cords shooting out of his wand, to bind Aiko before she can recover from the Stunning Spell.

_It’s too bad you’re Veela._

Does that mean — but it can’t be. Kai, a Veela? Soobin would know if Kai were Veela. Kai would’ve told him, he’s sure of it.

Right?

 _Is he a good liar?_ Jungkook’s voice floats into his head.

Kai’s always been too good at lying.

Soobin isn’t stupid. Veela aren’t welcome in wizarding society, especially in Seoul. If Kai really was Veela (and he remembers the way Kai’s eyes shone a brilliant blue, enchanting and beautiful), it would make sense for him to want to keep it under wraps.

But to keep it from Soobin? For the _six_ years they’ve known each other, laughed together, cried with each other?

Soobin touches his lips, confused.

He picks Aiko’s wand up from the ground, pocketing it, then picks her up and drags her back to school, ruminating. He’s halfway across the Hogwarts Lawn when Jungkook, Professor V and Professor Park swoop down on their brooms to land in front of him.

“We saw someone cast the Stunning Spell,” Jungkook says, sliding gracefully off his broom. He eyes Aiko, unconscious and bound tight in his arms. “What happened?”

“She used the Cruciatus Curse on Kai, so I stunned her,” Soobin says, voice flat. “Here.” He hands over Aiko’s wand. “Check it.”

“ _Priori Incantato_ ,” Professor V says, and a muffled echo of Aiko’s “ _Crucio!_ ”, followed by Kai’s screams, emanates from Aiko’s wand.

“Just checking, if you don’t mind,” Jungkook says, apologetic, and casts the Reverse Spell on Soobin’s wand too. There’s a weak flash of red and a tinny _Stupefy!_ from Soobin’s wand.

“We need to inform Headmaster Kim,” Professor Park says. “Where’s Huening Kai?”

“He kind of — stole my broom and flew off,” Soobin says, a little sheepish. “I thought it better to take care of Aiko first. Can’t have her running around casting Unforgiveables on other students.”

“Good kid,” Professor V says, approvingly.

“Why’d he fly off?” Jungkook asks, eyes narrowing.

“I don’t know,” Soobin lies. Kai would probably kill him if he spilled his identity to an Auror, of all people. “Can I leave her to you? I’ll look for Kai and bring him to the Headmaster’s Office when I find him.”

“You do that,” Jungkook agrees. “Professor Park, Professor V — help Soobin look for Kai, please. I’ll take care of Aiko.”

“Let’s split up,” Professor Park says. “I’ll check the dorms. Tae, check the classrooms. Soobin...?”

“Can I, uh, borrow a broom?” Soobin asks.

“You can use mine,” Professor V says. “She can be a little unpredictable, but I trust you’re a good flier?”

“I hope so,” Soobin says, and swings his legs over Professor V’s broom.

—

**Huening Kai, in the Owlery**

To be totally honest, Kai’s surprised it takes so long for Soobin to find him. By the time Soobin flies up to the Owlery, the Revealing Spell’s worn off, so Kai has long since bullied his Veela back into submission.

“You know, if you really wanted to hide from me, I can name at least 10 better hide-outs,” Soobin says, hopping off an unfamiliar broom and sliding through the main window of the Owlery.

“I’m sorry I ran,” Kai says, resigned. “I panicked.”

“Are you Veela?” Soobin asks, blunt.

Kai blinks. “Did you not feel it from me?”

“Feel it?” Soobin echoes, looking puzzled. “No, actually.”

“Wait,” Kai says. “What?”

“What, what?”

“Did you not see my freaky blue eyes?” Kai asks, gesturing at his eyeballs.

“That was pretty hard to miss,” Soobin says, drily.

“But you didn’t feel anything? Any… weird… feelings of, you know, attraction? I mean,” Kai gulps. Wow. He’s flushing in places he didn’t know could flush. “We kissed.”

“Oh,” Soobin says, and it’s his turn to blush a violent red, even in the moonlight. “I mean. Well. Yeah. That — we did that. It was. Uh. Interesting?”

“But you didn’t, like, _feel_ anything?” Kai presses, now deeply vexed.

“Uh,” Soobin says. “Well. Um.”

Merlin, Kai thinks, faintly. This is excruciating. It’s almost as bad as the Cruciatus Curse. Almost. 

“Here,” Kai says, standing from where he’d been resting on a bed of twigs and straw, closing his eyes. Then, slowly, he lets himself present. He opens his eyes. Soobin is staring.

“Oh,” Soobin says, nebulously. “Your eyes are beautiful. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“I’m _Veela_ , hyung,” Kai says, flaring his powers. This is — new. He’s never done this before, never exercised his Veela abilities because he wanted to. “You’re supposed to be, like, falling over yourself for me right now.”

“I can, if you want me to,” Soobin says, a touch hesitant. 

What the fuck?

Kai curbs his powers, lets himself go back to normal. “What’s _wrong_ with you?” he asks.

“That’s rich, coming from you!” Soobin says, looking affronted.

Kai takes a step back, stung.

“Oh, no, no,” Soobin says, going soft. “I’m sorry, I — you know I didn’t mean it like that. There’s nothing wrong with you, Hueningie. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m _Veela_ ,” Kai says, voice wavering. “Scum of this earth, dirt beneath your shoes. You’re right. I _am_ wrong.”

“No,” Soobin says, closing the distance between them both in two annoyingly long strides and taking Kai’s hands in his. “Huening-ah. You’re you, Veela or not. You’re still you. You’re not wrong.”

“Aiko killed my dad,” Kai says, voice going wobbly. “Because he was Veela. It’s not safe to be Veela. I’m scared, like, all the fucking time.”

“I’m sorry,” Soobin says, bringing his arms around Kai’s in a tender hug. ”You can trust me, you know that, right? I won’t turn against you. I promise.”

“Okay,” Kai says, swallowing. He closes his eyes, lets himself melt into Soobin’s embrace. “Okay.” 

This time, it’s hugging Kai that causes Soobin’s formal robes to strain across his shoulders. It’s Kai’s cheek that Soobin’s hair curls loosely against. It’s Kai’s arms that wrap around Soobin’s waist. Satisfaction settles deep in Kai’s stomach, makes him curious.

“Hey,” Kai mumbles, lips brushing against Soobin’s robes. “So. Quick question.”

“Hm?” Soobin asks, stroking distracting circles on the small of Kai’s back.

“When you, um, kissed me? Just now? You were… thinking straight, right? I mean, straight as in — you know what I mean.”

When Soobin laughs, Kai feels it with his entire body. “Yeah,” he sighs. “Yeah. I — Huening-ah. I guess you’re not the only one with secrets.”

Slowly, Soobin pulls away from their embrace so he can look Kai in the eye. The summer wind whispers through the open windows of the Owlery, and high up above, a lone owl hoots. Distantly, Kai wonders where Sean is. Probably off flying through the skies with the other owls. The stars in the night sky reflect back at him through Soobin’s eyes.

“Veela isn’t taught in Care of Magical Creatures, but I did a little extra reading over the holidays,” Soobin says, eyes glimmering. “Did you know it’s possible to resist a Veela’s powers?”

Mutely, Kai shakes his head.

Soobin takes a deep breath, then brings a hand up to cup Kai’s cheek, like he’d done in bed just the night before. “There are two known ways to achieve resistance: One, Occlumency. Two…” Soobin trails off, looking just a little embarrassed. “Two, being in a relationship with a Veela. Apparently, if you’re together long enough, you kind of build a resistance to any kind of supernatural attraction, like. Loving becomes so comfortable, it doesn’t make you go crazy.”

Kai struggles to keep up. Soobin — what is Soobin saying?

“Here’s the thing,” Soobin says, caressing a soft thumb down Kai’s cheek. “I’ve loved you since I was fourteen, Huening-ah. I-I think that’s why I’m not affected. I guess I kind of just... got used to loving you?”

Kai forgets how to breathe, and for a hot minute he thinks he loses all his motor functions, because _holy crap._

“Kai?” Soobin says, going all concerned. He palms Kai’s forehead. “You good? Oh, Merlin, is this some kind of side-effect from the Cruciatus Curse? Do I need to call Doctor Kim? Are you okay —“ And then he cuts off, decisively, because Kai kisses him.

—

**Soobin**

It’s impossible to put into words how good it feels to kiss Kai. It’s impossible, because _Kai_ is impossible, and Kai’s an impossibly _good_ kisser, who — how — when did he learn to use his tongue like _that_?

Soobin runs a palm down the length of Kai’s back, pressing in further. Kai’s arms loop around his neck. Oh. Yeah. That feels — good.

It feels even better when Soobin turns, half-pushing and half-pulling Kai down as he lies back into the little nest of twigs and straw, arranging Kai on his lap.

“Pushy,” Kai complains, so Soobin punishes him with a nip to his bottom lip.

Kai whimpers.

Soobin sees stars.

He soothes Kai’s bottom lip with his tongue, then slips it into Kai’s mouth, carefully, unbelieving, still amazed that he’s here, and Kai’s here, and that he’s kissing his best friend. He tangles his hand in Kai’s hair, taking deep satisfaction in ruining all of his own hard work, and kisses him. He pulls Kai in hard by the waist, so that they’re flushed tight at the hips, and kisses him. He noses the sweet, sweet juncture between Kai’s neck and jaw, leaving soft kisses there, then leans up and kisses him again, one more time, then twice, then three times, because Kai presses insistently close, mumbling _hyung, hyung_ between hot, sweet kisses, and how can Soobin say no to that?

Kai gently touches Soobin at the tummy, and it’s comfortable, familiar, until it’s not — _fuck_ — Kai tugs his dress shirt loose, sneaks sly fingers underneath, and Soobin nearly throws Kai off with how badly he jerks.

“You,” Soobin says, raggedly, pulling away, “will be the death of me.”

“So stop me,” Kai says, mischievously running his fingers across Soobin’s abs. Soobin shivers.

“Maybe I’ll just die happily,” Soobin murmurs, trailing his fingers across Kai’s collar. “Why’d you unbutton your collar? It drove me crazy the whole night.”

“Did it?” Kai says, leaning back, smug. A blush stains his cheeks pretty. “I was hot, so I unbuttoned it to cool off.”

“It is a pretty hot night,” Soobin agrees, slowly, fingers playing with the second button of Kai’s shirt.

“What’re you gonna do about it, hyung?” Kai asks, eyes flashing blue, swaying in, and Soobin kisses him again, drinking him in like muggle wine, laughing against his lips.

“I’m resisting you,” Soobin murmurs, neatly re-buttoning Kai’s collar. “Seems like it’s what I do best. C’mon, Headmaster Kim’s waiting for us.” He pushes Kai gently from his lap, who doesn’t budge.

“I’m not done,” Kai says, voice going dark. “Hyung. I’ve been in love with you since I met you, on the Hogwarts Express, do you remember? We ate gimbap, and you tried so hard to talk to me.”

Fuck. That was six years ago.

Soobin stops nudging Kai away, settling back instead and resting his hands around Kai’s hips.

“I remember,” Soobin says.

“And the love potion you thought I took?” Kai continues. “It wasn’t a love potion. It was _Veritaserum_.”

Oh.

Everything slots perfectly into place.

“Prolonged exposure to _Veritaserum_ will force any Veela into presenting their true nature,” Soobin recites. “Did you know that? Professor V and Professor Park watched the surveillance camera footage and saw Aiko take a Diffuser from under your bed — a Diffuser’s like an airborne transmission device for potions. I’m guessing Aiko was trying to use that to reveal your identity, and that’s what got you all jacked on _Veritaserum_ , until you started sleeping with me.”

“Tobin!” Kai says. “So that’s how he was drugged?”

“Likely,” Soobin says, whistling. “Aiko’s a sly fox.”

“I suppose we should deal with her,” Kai says, reluctantly removing himself from Soobin’s lap.

“Yeah,” Soobin says, running an appreciative hand down Kai’s neck, letting his voice drop an octave. "We can revisit this later."

He grins when Kai flushes.

—

**Huening Kai**

Aiko is expelled from Hogwarts, and Auror Jeon Jungkook promises to personally reopen the case for his father’s death and relook it.

“It was marked as a freak accident three years ago, but after what you just told me…” Jungkook says, trailing off. “Aiko might be facing a lifetime in prison.”

Kai just nods, and hopes the closure, if any, will bring a little bit of relief to his family.

The main downside to the whole fiasco, apart from suffering the Cruciatus Curse and finding out that his father had been murdered, is having to officially register himself under the Veela Registry, which, Kai thinks darkly, is sure to do just _wonders_ for his future. How’s he going to run for Head Boy now?

“Actually,” Headmaster Kim says, after Kai makes his disgruntled remark. “Professor V’s Veela too. You’re always welcome back to Hogwarts, if teaching ever catches your fancy.”

Kai doesn’t even try to stop his jaw from dropping. He isn’t sure which is crazier — that there’s been a fellow Veela under his nose all this time, or that Headmaster Kim had, essentially, offered him a _job._

"After graduating, I might specialise in the research of Veela," Soobin tells him, thoughtfully, after they’ve been released from Headmaster Kim’s office. "Maybe we can change things, you and me. Change perceptions, for all the innocent Veela out there. Give them a better life."

Kai really can't be blamed for pressing Soobin behind a sculpture, after that, and giving him a long, lingering kiss or two (or three). 

By the time Soobin bundles Kai off to the showers (“Don’t you want to watch me?” Kai asks, coyly, to which Soobin closes his eyes briefly and says, slightly strangled: “Maybe next time”) and they're both washed up, the Homecoming Ball has ended, so they both head to the Gryffindor Common Room to look for the Gryffindor trio. 

“I can’t believe you kept it from us!” Beomgyu says indignantly. They’re all cozied up, Soobin and Kai curled up on the couch with Taehyun, and Yeonjun and Beomgyu practically sat on each other’s laps in a plush armchair meant, evidently, for one.

“It isn’t really something to be proud about,” Kai tries.

“Is it true you can shoot _fire_ from your _hands?_ ” Yeonjun asks, eyes big.

“Only full-blooded Veela can,” Kai says. “Sorry. I still need a wand to conjure fire.”

“Can you turn it on?” Taehyun asks, curious. “Your Veela powers?”

“I can, but I don’t think it’ll affect any of you,” Kai says, dubiously. “Unless you happen to like boys too.”

“Haha!” Yeonjun says.

“Not at all!” Beomgyu says.

Taehyun gives them both a Very Suspicious look.

“Is there something you guys want to tell us?” Soobin asks, slowly.

“Turn it on!” Yeonjun says, cocky, wrapping an arm around Beomgyu’s shoulders. “We won’t —“

Kai lets himself present, just briefly, and both Yeonjun and Beomgyu go starry-eyed and slack-jawed. He stops.

“Sometimes I hear weird noises from your bed, hyung,” Taehyun informs Yeonjun. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed that Beomgyu hasn’t been sleeping in his bed all week.”

“I told you we should have used a Silencing Charm!” Beomgyu hisses.

“Keeping up the Invisibility Spell is tough work!” Yeonjun hisses back. “You can’t expect me to maintain the Silencing Charm at the same time!”

Then Yeonjun straightens, as though suddenly remembering that they do, in fact, have an audience.

“Uh,” Yeonjun says, trying and failing to look chill. “Anyway.”

It turns out Yeonjun has been casting an Invisibility Shield around his bed so no one’ll accidentally walk into him and Beomgyu, which is — actually pretty ingenious, Kai thinks. 

“When Yeonjun asked me to teach him how to modify the Invisibility Spell, I certainly wasn’t expecting him to use it for _that_ ,” Soobin remarks, later that night, when he and Kai are finally cuddled up in bed, Tobin nuzzling against Kai’s side.

“I think it’s a stellar idea,” Kai comments, innocently.

“Oh,” Soobin says, sounding breathless. “Is that so?”

Kai rolls over so he’s perched on his elbow, looking down at Soobin in the dark. “ _Silencio Paries_ ,” he whispers, and a wall of silence wraps around them both, shimmering gold. “Your turn,” Kai says, lightly.

“ _Invisibilus Paries_ ,” Soobin murmurs, eyes darkening, and they’re wrapped in another shield of silver. “C’mere,” Soobin says, voice deepening, hand reaching up to wrap large and warm around the back of Kai’s neck.

Kai obliges. 

"Did you really think my thighs looked delicious?" Soobin asks, some time later. 

"Shut the fuck up, hyung," Kai says, and bends down to kiss the insides of Soobin's thighs. 

**End.**

**Author's Note:**

> i... apologise for butchering the art of spell-crafting. but i won't apologise for unapologetic sookai!!! 
> 
> also, you might be interested to know that my plot ideation for chapter 3 was literally typed out like this: homecoming ball... ????? a loTTA MiscOmmuNicaTion
> 
> and i rolled with it i guess 
> 
> i hope you've all been keeping safe and healthy, and as always i really appreciate your thoughts & comments! let me know what you think <3


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